I often get asked, “How do surveyors value houses?” I can’t provide a 100% answer because chartered surveyors have their own way of doing that by their industry guidelines. But I have seen how they’ve worked before where they do take into consideration price comparable. They compare what’s for sale at the moment, what’s sold recently and how long they have took to sell.
So they’ve got to be pretty accurate.
We’ve just, for instance, completed on a pair of flats in Newcastle where we sold them to an investor for £122,000. Now, I know all day that the property will value up at £140,000. I met the surveyor there and they were quite happy, and that’s fine. They also look at the comparables. Sometimes they also use a tool called Hometrack, which is another thing that lists what mortgage valuations have been done on certain properties in the area recently.
They don’t really do anything much more different than what we do.
Obviously if it’s a full survey, they’ll do a lot of measuring up, they’ll go into a lot of detail. But if it’s just a surveyor from an estate agent valuing it for sale purposes, they’ll use just about all the same data as what we use.
If it’s for mortgage purposes, they’ll go into a little bit more detail. They’ll want damp reports, make sure you’ve got electric certificates and gas safety checks, especially if you’ve got tenants in.
Hope that helps. If you’ve got any other questions anytime, feel free to give me a ring. Here’s my number 0191 486 2386. I’m available 24/7 and I’d love to have a chat about property.
