Indépendant valuations
Discussion
My wife and I have found a house we love. However it’s very tired and a probate sale- but with a great view of the sea in a lovely village.
The probate valuation was £1m in 2022, it’s been on the market ever since, now dropped to £0.9m. I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won’t consider less than £875k. I am willing to lose some money and appreciate it needs £200k+ invested in it. What I don’t want to do is waste hundreds of thousands, so would like a view on what it’s actually worth. It briefly sold for £875k, but fell through after the survey. My experience of pre purchase inspections is that they’re worthless, so is there a pre-offer independent view I can get without spending thousands?
The probate valuation was £1m in 2022, it’s been on the market ever since, now dropped to £0.9m. I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won’t consider less than £875k. I am willing to lose some money and appreciate it needs £200k+ invested in it. What I don’t want to do is waste hundreds of thousands, so would like a view on what it’s actually worth. It briefly sold for £875k, but fell through after the survey. My experience of pre purchase inspections is that they’re worthless, so is there a pre-offer independent view I can get without spending thousands?
It sound like you know what the price is.
£875k
You may be able to get something off the price if you can show your ready to proceed with the sale quickly but I would be more concerened by why the first sale fell through. If its from something on the survey it could be a deal breaker for you too.
£875k
You may be able to get something off the price if you can show your ready to proceed with the sale quickly but I would be more concerened by why the first sale fell through. If its from something on the survey it could be a deal breaker for you too.
It's worth whatever someone will pay for it.
It could be auctioned for £600k, or you could hang around until the perfect buyer comes along who might be happy to pay over a million.
In between there is a range of values where various people would buy it. but some of them might take a while to do so.
There is no 'absolute' value. It gets more variable the more you move away from run of the mill houses.
You get five houses in that league, people won't agree how to put them in order of value.
If the vendor prefers to hang on to it rather than sell below £x, then so be it.
In this area, the South West, the market for houses in the £500k to £1.5million range has not been very liquid for the last couple of years, so some things have hung on the market a long time. And yet it's hard to find something nice that's for sale.
You can get any number of independent opinions as to the value, but the vendor is free to ignore them.
It could be auctioned for £600k, or you could hang around until the perfect buyer comes along who might be happy to pay over a million.
In between there is a range of values where various people would buy it. but some of them might take a while to do so.
There is no 'absolute' value. It gets more variable the more you move away from run of the mill houses.
You get five houses in that league, people won't agree how to put them in order of value.
If the vendor prefers to hang on to it rather than sell below £x, then so be it.
In this area, the South West, the market for houses in the £500k to £1.5million range has not been very liquid for the last couple of years, so some things have hung on the market a long time. And yet it's hard to find something nice that's for sale.
You can get any number of independent opinions as to the value, but the vendor is free to ignore them.
It’s very hard to judge what they will accept. I’ve bought probate properties for 50% less than the asking price while others won’t reduce by 1p. My mate is an estate agent, he often says some relatives selling inherited property are the greediest sellers in the world. You could be dealing with a handful of siblings who can’t agree what to accept, one may be happy almost give it away, two want a fair price and the 4th wants every penny. If I was buying that to live in i’d be offering £750k and go up from there. Bare in mind if you think it needs £200k spent on it that probably means £300k+. As mentioned, 4 years on the market means you are not going to be dealing with reasonable sellers.
I've offered £750k already (last October) and the offer was taken seriously by the estate agent, which suggested it was the highest to date. I'll try and find out if the survey brought up anything I didn't guess (mice/rats/bats in the roof, asbestos needing all
Windows and doors replaced, knackered heating and kitchen and bathrooms to make but a start) and price in. I think one of the issues is that it's being advertised as an extension or knock down and rebuild opportunity, but is built to both borders and the neighbour has gone through hell getting planning permission on a bigger plot. I think it may be one that whilst ideal for us, isn't to be, but we are going to move that way so may as well push it to see.
Windows and doors replaced, knackered heating and kitchen and bathrooms to make but a start) and price in. I think one of the issues is that it's being advertised as an extension or knock down and rebuild opportunity, but is built to both borders and the neighbour has gone through hell getting planning permission on a bigger plot. I think it may be one that whilst ideal for us, isn't to be, but we are going to move that way so may as well push it to see.
Edited by TV200 on Wednesday 20th May 13:55
TV200 said:
I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won t consider less than £875k.
If you can't discuss directly with the owner then the only thing you can do is get their EA to sell them your offer. If the EA isn't prepared to do that then you're stuffed.It does seem bonkers to have held on to it, they'll be paying council tax on it now, probably at double rate - I don't know if its univeral but in some places it's +200% (so triple) at 5yrs.
But people are weird - we went after a probate place on our village a few years ago. House was untouched since being build in the mid-60's. Sons (I was talking directly to them) wanted mid-£400K. I know (as the house is very close to ours) there was a lot of interest. I felt it was worth something like £375K. They sat on it for two years and missed the post-Covid bubble and eventually put it up by modern auction - unusual around here. Didn't sell and at the second attempt it went for £320K.
If you're not "hands on" then I would caution about how much it'll cost to refurb. We stayed put and spent £200K extending and refurbing our current house. A builder bought the probate house apparently intendng to flip it, but his wife liked our village so he did it up for his own occupation and did an amazing job. Based on what we had done for £200K, I reckon it would have cost at least £4-500K if paying people at normal rates to do it. I think its value now would be nudging a million. Bear in mind a big chunk of those costs is VAT - builders always talk ex-VAT prices.
TV200 said:
My wife and I have found a house we love. However it s very tired and a probate sale- but with a great view of the sea in a lovely village.
The probate valuation was £1m in 2022, it s been on the market ever since, now dropped to £0.9m. I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won t consider less than £875k. I am willing to lose some money and appreciate it needs £200k+ invested in it. What I don t want to do is waste hundreds of thousands, so would like a view on what it s actually worth. It briefly sold for £875k, but fell through after the survey. My experience of pre purchase inspections is that they re worthless, so is there a pre-offer independent view I can get without spending thousands?
Can you track down the last survey and make an offer to have it? It's a sunk cost for the buyer who pulled out.The probate valuation was £1m in 2022, it s been on the market ever since, now dropped to £0.9m. I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won t consider less than £875k. I am willing to lose some money and appreciate it needs £200k+ invested in it. What I don t want to do is waste hundreds of thousands, so would like a view on what it s actually worth. It briefly sold for £875k, but fell through after the survey. My experience of pre purchase inspections is that they re worthless, so is there a pre-offer independent view I can get without spending thousands?
TV200 said:
I can certainly ask the estate agent, but would be surprised if they d accommodate the sharing of the survey.
Money talks. If they have a chance to recoup some sunk costs they may play ball. Or you may be lucky and they may be nice, letting you have it FOC. I’ve had this happen before. It is in the agent’s interests that you offer and proceed with full information, let them negotiate for you (if it’s the same agent).
Furbo said:
TV200 said:
My wife and I have found a house we love. However it s very tired and a probate sale- but with a great view of the sea in a lovely village.
The probate valuation was £1m in 2022, it s been on the market ever since, now dropped to £0.9m. I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won t consider less than £875k. I am willing to lose some money and appreciate it needs £200k+ invested in it. What I don t want to do is waste hundreds of thousands, so would like a view on what it s actually worth. It briefly sold for £875k, but fell through after the survey. My experience of pre purchase inspections is that they re worthless, so is there a pre-offer independent view I can get without spending thousands?
Can you track down the last survey and make an offer to have it? It's a sunk cost for the buyer who pulled out.The probate valuation was £1m in 2022, it s been on the market ever since, now dropped to £0.9m. I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won t consider less than £875k. I am willing to lose some money and appreciate it needs £200k+ invested in it. What I don t want to do is waste hundreds of thousands, so would like a view on what it s actually worth. It briefly sold for £875k, but fell through after the survey. My experience of pre purchase inspections is that they re worthless, so is there a pre-offer independent view I can get without spending thousands?
In terms of value, you can pay for an independent ‘red book’ valuation from an RICS Registered Valuer, but I’m not sure what it would achieve in this circumstance, as ultimately, the seller will decide what they are willing to sell it for…
Cow Corner 2.0 said:
In terms of value, you can pay for an independent red book valuation from an RICS Registered Valuer, but I m not sure what it would achieve in this circumstance, as ultimately, the seller will decide what they are willing to sell it for
Yes that’s my take too, ultimately if that’s what they will accept, you have to take it or leave it, even if it’s too much.Cow Corner 2.0 said:
Furbo said:
TV200 said:
My wife and I have found a house we love. However it s very tired and a probate sale- but with a great view of the sea in a lovely village.
The probate valuation was £1m in 2022, it s been on the market ever since, now dropped to £0.9m. I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won t consider less than £875k. I am willing to lose some money and appreciate it needs £200k+ invested in it. What I don t want to do is waste hundreds of thousands, so would like a view on what it s actually worth. It briefly sold for £875k, but fell through after the survey. My experience of pre purchase inspections is that they re worthless, so is there a pre-offer independent view I can get without spending thousands?
Can you track down the last survey and make an offer to have it? It's a sunk cost for the buyer who pulled out.The probate valuation was £1m in 2022, it s been on the market ever since, now dropped to £0.9m. I viewed it and even the estate agent said it was overpriced. The owners won t consider less than £875k. I am willing to lose some money and appreciate it needs £200k+ invested in it. What I don t want to do is waste hundreds of thousands, so would like a view on what it s actually worth. It briefly sold for £875k, but fell through after the survey. My experience of pre purchase inspections is that they re worthless, so is there a pre-offer independent view I can get without spending thousands?
In terms of value, you can pay for an independent red book valuation from an RICS Registered Valuer, but I m not sure what it would achieve in this circumstance, as ultimately, the seller will decide what they are willing to sell it for
scot_aln said:
They have kept it for sale for 4 years! That does sound like some unrealistic sellers.
That sounds to me that they are ambivalent about selling it.Maybe they get some value from it as a weekend home or something?
Maybe it's in Cornwall and only 'for sale' to avoid double council tax.
Maybe they've paid IHT based on it being worth £900k
I found loads of houses for sale which I felt were overpriced, some of them sold eventually.
You can only offer what you're prepared to pay, and if they don't accept, go and buy something else.
But if the OP doesn't like anything else he can get for £xxx, maybe this place is worth more?
There's a saying about the upside of having what you want lasting longer than the downside of having paid slightly over the odds for it.
In the 90s, I probably paid 10% over the odds for a house. When I sold it 12 years later, that £15k was a minor detail.
They live in Singapore and the house isn’t used at all. They’re just hung up on the probate valuation from the Covid bounce. The house is in Devon. I’ll speak to the agent and see if I can get the survey or find out more, but think I will end up offering more than I think it’s worth, but possible less than they accepted last time (the more I spend the less I have to update it). But I can see it as the house I’ll spend the rest of my life in. I’ll also look elsewhere in Devon and Cornwall.
TV200 said:
I've offered £750k already (last October) and the offer was taken seriously by the estate agent, which suggested it was the highest to date. I'll try and find out if the survey brought up anything I didn't guess (mice/rats/bats in the roof, asbestos needing all
Windows and doors replaced, knackered heating and kitchen and bathrooms to make but a start) and price in. I think one of the issues is that it's being advertised as an extension or knock down and rebuild opportunity, but is built to both borders and the neighbour has gone through hell getting planning permission on a bigger plot. I think it may be one that whilst ideal for us, isn't to be, but we are going to move that way so may as well push it to see.
The mice/rats are probably because the place has been empty for 4 years.Windows and doors replaced, knackered heating and kitchen and bathrooms to make but a start) and price in. I think one of the issues is that it's being advertised as an extension or knock down and rebuild opportunity, but is built to both borders and the neighbour has gone through hell getting planning permission on a bigger plot. I think it may be one that whilst ideal for us, isn't to be, but we are going to move that way so may as well push it to see.
Edited by TV200 on Wednesday 20th May 13:55
OutInTheShed said:
There's a saying about the upside of having what you want lasting longer than the downside of having paid slightly over the odds for it.
In the 90s, I probably paid 10% over the odds for a house. When I sold it 12 years later, that £15k was a minor detail.
Even though our offer was £25K under the asking price we may have overpaid for our house but I'm glad that we did because I love the house and we have spent £100K+ on improvements.In the 90s, I probably paid 10% over the odds for a house. When I sold it 12 years later, that £15k was a minor detail.
Offers are usually subject to survey but in this case before making an offer can the OP have an advance RICS Survey and Valuation and then use that information as a basis for an offer?
We made an offer on another house and when we contacted a local surveyor by phone he unprompted gave chapter and verse on the survey he had performed previously and warned he had found subsidence. He was also too booked up to perform a survey for us. Anyway we did get a survey with another surveyor who found different subsidence and we didn't go through with the purchase.
When we sold our house we had very few viewings but every viewing resulted on an offer and subsequent survey. These purchases pulled out for various reasons but for each different offer we kept getting the same surveyor.
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