How do I find out my house value?
1. Get a professional valuation
2. Consult estate agents
3. Speak to your mortgage lender
4. Find local properties for sale and look at their price
5. Understand outside factors that can change your value
6. Be realistic.
Selling a property can be hard work, stressful, and frustrating to endless degrees; especially if you need a quick house sale. It’s highly competitive out there and it’s likely you won’t know the property market in your area.
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The first steps towards valuing your property
The biggest advice we can give is to make sure that your property is prepared as best as it can be before you even consider putting it on the market. Do everything in your power to help increase the house’s value before turning to valuation.
Once you feel that the house is ready, you need to tip the odds in your favour by doing ample research. This means getting to grips with the local property market and having an understanding of what your house could be worth in comparison to similar properties. Remember that it isn’t the estate agent who will decide what price to place on the property, but you.
Professional valuations
Getting professional valuations from estate agents and mortgage lenders is a great place to start when it comes to getting a better idea of your house’s value. But it shouldn’t be taken as gospel. More often than not, both of these third parties are coming into the partnership with their own agenda.
Estate agents
In most cases, homeowners take and trust their estate agents valuation, but there are a couple of things to bear in mind. First, while local estate agents will know your area well, they may overvalue a property to attract your business. For example, if you ask two different estate agents to value your house and one estimates 190,000 and the other 200,000, which agent would you go with? It doesn’t necessarily mean that this is your houses actual value.
If the estate agent isn’t local then they’ll rely on third party sources to research the area and learn about the property market. This means that they won’t have an in-depth understanding of the property value or the local area.
Mortgage lenders
The first and perhaps most important thing to remember about mortgage lender valuations is this; they usually err on the low side to secure the interests of the lender. This also means that the difference in valuation provided between an estate agent and a lender can vary.
How you can value your house
While it is good to get a professional opinion, it’s also a good idea to put your own time and research into valuing the property. There are two primary things you’ll want to know; how much similar local houses are on the market for, and of course, how much they sell for.
This might sound a little outside of your knowledge but you’d be surprised at how many tools are out there to help you find out everything you need to know.
How much properties on your street sold for
Thanks to modern technology, everyone now has access to data that was once the pride and joy of estate agents and other property professionals. There are a number of sites out there that allow you to check what previous properties have sold for in your postcode, but most use data from the Land Registry and so will give you the same info.
Head to Nethouseprices, enter your postcode and you can see which properties sold and how much for.
Understand what sort of property was purchased
While tools like Nethouseprices are useful, they aren’t comprehensive. They’ll show a price and an address but not the type of building or its state. Places like Rightmove allow you to search through sold prices and will often have original listings along with photos and sometimes floor plans.
This will allow you to better compare sold properties to your own, meaning you have a more accurate estimation of value.
Property value trends in your area
Now you have an idea of how much similar properties to your own have sold for on your street, it’s time to get a bird’s eye view of the market in the area. This will help you better understand how often properties are selling in your postcode and whether now is the best time to sell.
The Land Registry is the official home of property sales data as they record pretty much every single home sold in England and Wales. It has a House Price Index tool designed to give an average house price in a region and breaks them down into property type, giving you a better idea of the local market. You can also see what the experts are predicting might happen to the housing market in the future at www.housepricecrash.co.uk.
Our house valuing top tips
While asking for expert advice and doing your own research is often adequate for valuing your property there are a few other things you can do to help get a more accurate estimation.
- While your house might be in tip top shape, there are other local factors outside of your control that might affect property value. Those can include schools, amenities, crime rates, transport links, and demographics.
- Be realistic about your asking price. Many homeowners believe that, because of their wonderful decor and the changes they’ve made to the property, the value will be higher than similar properties sold in their area. This isn’t always the case. Be realistic about the value and go off the data you have, not the valuation you’d like.
- Buyers often presume there is room to negotiate on the asking price, so adjust for it. It’s often recommended to ask for 5-10% more than what you’d be happy to get for the property.
- If you’re hoping to sell quickly then you may want to put the property on the market for a lower asking price.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy sale, contact us at Quick Sell Your House for a free quote to see how we can help you sell your house.
