We carry out property valuations, but we may not be able to carry out one for you

We can provide help and advice with regard to building surveys, structural surveys, independent valuations, property surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, specific defects report, home buyers reports or any other property matters.  As you can see from this article we use lots of sketches and photos in our reports as the feedback we have from our clients is that the sketches and photos help them understand the reports.

Please free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat with one of our surveyors.

Valuations

We carry out property valuations, market valuations or open market valuations, as they used to be called.  We carry out valuations to the standard required by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).  However, we don't carry out work for banks, building societies or mortgage lenders.

Free phone 0800 298 5424

The reasons why we don't carry out bank valuations and mortgage valuations

We don't carry out bank valuations and mortgage valuations under their standard terms of contract as we don't agree with the way the valuations are carried out.  This is both on the basis of the standardised forms that require one word answers and this is simply not possible with some valuation scenarios and we certainly don't agree with the very short time scales that banks and building societies require, many wish the valuations to be returned in 48 hours (from when they issue them without any warning).

We also do not agree with the production line industry that has developed their own in-house valuers valuing typically eight properties a day, some we have heard have carried out as many as 12 valuations in one day (it is hard enough to travel to 12 properties in one day, let alone value them properly and prepare a report).

Production line surveying or valuing

We believe that the valuers (often known as surveyors) become, in this scenario, little more than mortgage salesmen.  There is extreme pressure for the valuations to be returned at the price that the mortgage is being offered at (we feel this has led to a very strange situation where properties are not really being valued at all as an independent impartial source), which is one of the functions that surveyors used to originally have.

What a valuation should include

Our valuations include the general details on the property, relating to its location, type of property, construction, etc, as you would expect.  We also use various sources of data to look at the market as a whole, looking at:

Property types, which shows how the area is split between terraced properties, semi-detached properties, detached properties, flats and maisonettes.

Current prices in that area for terraced properties, semi-detached properties, detached properties, flats and maisonettes.  This allows you to see where your property sits within the market.  For example, we recently looked at a detached property in London and although it was priced highly, as so few detached properties came onto the market (our analysis of the property types in the area showed that it represented approximately 10% of all properties), it made the property a good buy.

Price trends in the area over the last six months and seasonal adjustments, divided up into property types, i.e. terraced properties, semi-detached properties, detached properties, flats and maisonettes.

Market activity. This considers the time to sell and also looks at the number of viewings, which can give a very good indication as to how a market is going, i.e. the longer it is on the market or the high number of viewings before it sells.  Equally, we look at data which is the price achieved as a percentage of the market price and this is a good indication as to whether the estate agents and owners in an area are generally over optimistic.  Again, we can look at data over the past six months.

Market demand. Looking at the number of buyers in the market and the number of instructions.

Property comparables. These are other properties in the area that have sold.  We use a house price index to bring the information up to date.

Whilst using all this information we also understand the limitations that, where necessary, will seek out further information and further evidence to establish the market value in the area.

The valuation of your house is too important to be taken lightly

We would comment finally that valuers that are carrying out many valuations per day almost become blind to what they say. We have come across cases where they have put the wrong photo to the property and, indeed, it is quite normal for them not to be able to remember at the end of the week the properties they have seen at the start of the week and we would be surprised if many of them could remember the property from a month ago, as even if they are only carrying out an average of five a week they are looking at 25 properties a week and 500 in a month and most of the time if is even higher than this.

You may also be interested in these other articles about valuations:

Do surveyors really value the property or just rubber stamp the lending process?

Surveyors Valuation

Valuation the Same, Snap

Section 18 Valuation

Information on Valuations

If you truly do want an independent expert opinion from a surveyor with regard to valuations, mortgages, mortgage companies, surveys, building surveys, structural reports/engineers reports, specific defects report, structural surveys, home buyers reports or any other property matters please contact 0800 298 5424 for a surveyor to give you a call back.

If you have a commercial property, be it leasehold or freehold, then you may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com .

We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).

The contents of the website are for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision.

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