Free online property
valuation
You can use Zoopla.co.uk to register your property, update the details such as large front garden, numbers of bedrooms and so on to allow the assimilated information to carefully predict the value
of your home when taking into account local price trends and previous selling prices.
You can check local house selling prices at the land registry, at
zoopla and at mouseprice.co.uk
Hometrack's
Property Report, will help in establishing the
right price for your property.
Remember that between an offer being accepted and exchange of contracts, you should be able to re-negotiate the price and conditions of sale without penalty.
By law, all building societies are required to carry out a valuation on a property before making a
mortgage offer. Although this does not apply to banks, most will insist on a valuation being
carried out anyway.
A property valuation is simply a property inspection carried out with the sole purpose of determining the value of the property so that the lender can assess how much it may lend.
A valuation is not a survey. The valuation is usually paid for by the buyer who receives a copy of the report.
A valuation is a very limited inspection compared to a survey. It may identify areas that require more detailed inspection by a specialist.
Surveyors
valuation
"Surveyors for banks and building societies are extremely cautious -
too much so. They've consistently undervalued properties to protect the lenders. That situation is improving but it's still a factor, especially with new homes,"
Bolton-King says.
He advises sellers to quiz agents on the number and type of comparable properties they have sold and how quickly they went.
RICS
guide to property valuation
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which regularly updates its "Red Book" guide to valuation, also says comparable property sales are a good
- but not exact - guide to a home's worth.
Buying agents, who earn their keep bartering down sale prices for purchasers, have yet another approach based on looking beneath the surface of the sale and sellers.
"Factors that help are how long a property's been on the market, past price reductions, and offers that were made and turned down, or accepted but then failed to proceed," says James Greenwood of Stacks Property Search.
"Value is also affected by individuals. How badly does a vendor want to sell? Is it divorce, probate or desperation? How badly does a buyer want it? How long have they been looking? Our only assumption is that the asking price is in the right region
- but with flexibility," he says.
There are a number of websites which offer an online valuation. One of the most respected is hometrack which is also used in different formats by property professionals. Calnea Analytics
calculate and prepare the official Land Registry House Price Index and provide generic property valuations for Estate Agents, Surveyors and mortgage lenders.
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