Whether you want to put your home on the market now or in a few months you’ll want to get it valued. This enables you to accurately set your target price and gives you an idea of what you can afford for your next property.
There are a number of ways you can do it but whichever you choose, you want to make sure that it’s assessed correctly. Here’s where you should start.
New Home Builders
At David Wilson Homes, we give you the option of part-exchanging your existing home for a new-build property.
Through our part-exchange process, once you have contacted us the first step is to arrange two independent valuations of your property.
This will ensure you receive an accurate valuation and have a clear idea of the property you can purchase through part exchange.
Estate agents
You could contact a few local and online, estate agents and ask them to come and give you a home valuation for free. You would have to say that you’re interested in selling but you wouldn’t need to sign a contract with them as you’re just wanting a valuation at this stage.
Estate agents will have knowledge of the local area and an understanding of recent sales of similar types of properties, ensuring they can give an accurate valuation. Many online estate agents, such as Purple Bricks, also employ local property experts who can provide an accurate valuation for your home based on its type, the area, and recent sales.
If you’re unsure about the level of service provided by online agents always check their website, credentials and service.
You should always make sure you get valuations from more than one estate agent to ensure accuracy and negate any over or under-valuing.
When speaking to an estate agent, it’s worthwhile questioning them about similar properties in the area that haven’t sold and the prices they were valued at.
You can also do your own research to establish this.
RICS Surveyor
RICS Home Surveys are used when you’re purchasing a property to give you a greater knowledge about your prospective home, rather than simply relying on the valuation carried out by the mortgage lender.
If you wish to get an accurate valuation of your existing home, you can hire a RICS surveyor to carry out a number of checks in line with the surveys they usually undertake for home buyers.
RICS surveyors report on the condition of the property, highlighting any defects, risks and potential legal issues. They can also advise on the repairs required and give details on essential ongoing maintenance, as well as giving an accurate valuation.
There are three levels of survey provided by an RICS surveyor:
- RICS Home Condition Report
- RICS HomeBuyer Report
- RICS Building Survey
At this stage, the analysis undertaken in the HomeBuyer report is essential as your surveyor will be able to give you a valuation and identify any defects and ongoing maintenance required – this is ideal if you property is older as it will enable you to rectify things now rather than having to negotiate over price further down the line.
Zoopla / Nethouseprices
If you visit Zoopla you can see a comprehensive list of the properties in your street, when they were last sold and how much they sold for. It gives a market activity summary with the average price paid, sales in the last 12 months, current average value and value change. While using a service like this can give you a ballpark figure it isn’t always accurate if you live in a street with a number of different styles of homes and when there have been very few or no recent sales in the area. For a true value you should consider one of the above options.
Nethouseprices also enables you to enter a postcode or street and find out which properties have been sold and for how much. Again, this is a good starting point, but should be used in conjunction with a professional valuation.
Rightmove
On the UK’s number 1 property website Rightmove you can view what homes have recently sold for and see their historic sales too, as well as what similar properties are currently on the market for. You get an idea of how much your home is worth by using their price comparison tool.
All you need to do is enter your postcode, distance you want the search to cover (e.g. within ¼ mile), property type and number of bedrooms.
The results page will show properties that are currently for sale, properties that are no longer on the market, sold prices and properties to rent that are similar to yours. This could give you an idea of the competition if you tried to sell your home in the near future.
Nationwide house price calculator
For a home valuation based on what you originally paid for your property you could use the Nationwide house price calculator.
You just need to enter the price you paid, the year you bought it and select your region.
The price it could be worth today will be revealed alongside a percentage figure, showing how much it’s gone up or down by.
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