Anyone had their home valued recently?

[inscotland]

Do you mind me asking how much the value has dropped by either since you bought it or had it last valued?

We had ours valued yesterday to be told that is is now worth £65,000 less than what it was 8 months ago when we re-mortgaged. I have asked for a written explanation of why the girl came up with this valuation and we have further estate agents coming this week but I'd be interested to hear others views/experiences.

I am just outside Perth in Scotland.

Ours has gone up. We bought in 2005 and it's gone up by between £7-13K (depending on which estate agent we spoke to!) We've done about £8k of work on it though, so really it's just held its value.
This is a 2 bed house in the South East.

2 bed house in machester - dropped at least £15k in a year and a half. Still worth more than double what it was bought for 8 years ago though.

3 bed semi in Manchester
dropped 25k in a year.
its been on market the whole time

I do think she might have it wrong. I was expecting a drop of around £25,000 but not as much as she said. We wouldn't even get back they money we have spent on general improvements.

Aaahh well, tomorrow will tell.

that does seem a lot. It's a sickener, isn't it. We've spent nearly £30k doing the place up and it's probably only added £10k to the value.

I just keep thinking it's about quality of life, not just the cash.

Are you valuing it to sell it?

Yes. We're emmigrating in September.

What's 65k as a % of previous valuation? Was that optimistic at the time compared to other recent sales in road?

About to steel myself to do this.

Here in my village (North Herts) I know of houses where the asking price has been reduced from:
£280,000 to £240,000 over a 3 month period
£380,000 to oiro 285,000 over 12 months
£450,000 to £380,000 to £350,000 over 6 months

It is a drop of 26%. Nothing else to compare it too in the entire village. It is a one off house due to conversion.

The valuation last year was done by someone I know and trust to have done a correct valuation.

Why did you buy a house last year, if you were emigrating this year ??

We didn't. We bought a few years back. Re-mortgaged last year. We didn't know we were emmigrating until 6 weeks ago.

But if there's nothing else to compare it with, what's a "correct valuation"?

By the purchase price and what you have added to it with improvements, ie the converstion.

sorry, conversion.

Not sure it can be that scientific really.

This is fairly accurate

It will only value to end of last year as we are not quite out of Q1.

At the height of the market our house was worth double what we paid for it. Now it is only worth 60%, but as we are not moving ever ever again it is not a problem. Traumatised moi..whatever gave you that impression.

TBH

In that case, I would try and hold on to it.

Why are you emigrating in such a short space of time, and should you keep a bolthole in case it doesn't work out. ??

We are about to drop our house price by 10% and it's only be on the market 6 weeks, agent has advised that's the only way to get any interest and I tend to agree looking at other prices in the area. We originaly had it on at the same price we bought it for 4 years ago but we've done loads of work, probably a 25% -30% drop from top value a couple of years ago.
Anyhow - looking to move to Perth area so watching the market very carefully up there, from what I can see prices have dropped a bit from last autumn but no where near as much as they have here in Manchester. Will be interested to know how you get on with the valuations and know if prices really are dropping !Where exactly are you - may want your house !!( CAT me if you don't want to disclose!)

How do you mean Tinker? Improving your property by adding rooms, kitchens, double glazing, garages etc all adds value. That's how developers do it and we've been no different.

Yes, there are general regional increases but they only act as part of the house valuation.

It really is incredibly difficult to value houses atm. You say its a drop of 26%. Over what period?

I'd guess there are loads of houses on the market at 26% or more less than their peak value.

Where is twinset's thread? She's dropped her asking price hugely but the house still isn't budging.

It really isn't an exact science in this current market so probably unrealistic of you to expect a "correct" valuation.

Thanks WIP. We're in Kinross so about a 20 minute drive from Perth.

Bree - the department of immigration for Australia tells you when they've approved your visa application and when you have to be there by.

Not going to hold onto it (depending on what other valuations come this week) because it is an old converted cottage that needs quite a bit of maintenance. It will just be a nightmare with tenants. We have other investment property in the area to fall back on if it doesn't work out.

Yes, they add value but it's not as simple as saying a kitchen = x amount, a garage = y amount. Especially when, as you say, there is nothing else to compare it with. Anyway, this is only one valuation. You are waiting for some more. Thye may have more to tell you.

25% is in 8 months Mintyy. As I say, more valuations tomorrow and Monday so will keep you posted with what they say.

Hi - looking at areas north of Perth rather than south. Would be really surprised if your house has dropped that much - wait for the other agents, we got valuations about 60k apart!
Having said that mortgages are really hard to get which I think is the main thing driving prices down.

Good luck with the move.

We had our house valued at the end of 2007 at £230,000 then just last week at £205,000. So that's a drop of 10%. But the good news is we sold the house the weekend it went on the market to the first people to come round, for £200,000. So if you are prepared to price realistically there are people out there willing to buy.

Different estate agents valuations can vary wildly in my experience, so don't be too disheartened.