In one of our previous blog posts titled “Estate Agents’ Sales Pitches”, we briefly touched on the subject of valuations. This article goes into more detail on why you need an accurate and realistic valuation on your property.
Video: Watch our for the Valuation Tricks by Estate Agents
The importance of a house valuation
Generally the first thing a house seller needs to know when considering selling their house is how much their house is worth. For this, they would need to arrange a valuation, or in estate agency terms a “market appraisal”. This will give the seller an idea of what price to market the property at, and also what realistic price they should expect to achieve.
Your first meeting with the Estate Agent
With the typical high street Estate Agent, it is usually the valuer that will initially come out to meet with you and take a look at your house to discuss the sales process and also to give you a valuation on your property. In such agency models the valuer is just that, “a valuer”, but not actually the selling agent of your house. So they will come to give you a marketing price and ideally gain the instruction of your business before passing your details on to the office staff who will then go on to sell your property.
Watch out for the Estate Agents’ Valuation Tricks!
As house sellers, we all want to believe that our house is worth a fortune, however it is crucially important to be realistic with our expectations. Often an estate agent’s valuer will give you a very attractive price in the hope to win your business. The reason for this is that they are actually paid a commission for gaining your instruction, however this is where their role ends and onto the next property they go… The seller is now tied into a lengthy contract with their Estate Agent and if the property does not sell after some time, the office will suggest a price drop. It can take several price drops before finally genuine interest and offers do start to come through. The problem here, however, is that because your property has been on the market for so long people will assume you are now desperate to sell and may offer a far lower price than what your property is really worth.
Do your own research before you instruct an estate agent
Now that we live in an age of the Internet, there are several online tools available that offer you knowledge of how you can do your own research to get a fair idea of a typical valuation for your house by using Sold House Price data on Rightmove and Zoopla for example. Not every house will have online data available as usually the information online is more helpful where your house is very similar to those of neighbouring houses. So estate agents still have a crucial part to play in offering a valuation.
Open House Leicester’s Free Ebook tells you more
Our free downloadable Ebook titled “Top Tips to SELL Your Property” offers a wealth of tips and information that house sellers can use to get a better understanding of house valuations and also what you can do to generate better interest in your property. For further help and advice subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative tips.
Or contact us on 0116 243 7938 if you wish to have a realistic valuation carried out on your house.
