How to get honest house valuation

Wavey

I need to get our home valued but I am concerned that the usual estate agents may over value in a bid to get us to sell through their company.

Is there away to protect against this?

Is there an alternative to use estate agents?

snowcat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058335367/how-to-get-honest-house-valuation

You already know the approx value of your property. What it sells for is dependent on the market when you sell. No one including you or an estate agent knows the value of your property until someone pays you for it.

An alternative to an estate agent is sell it yourself. An estate agent will just put an ad on daft.ie and do viewings. If you have time to do viewings you can save thousands and be more involved in the sale.

witchgirl26

If it's for a mortgage switch that you need the valuation be aware that they may under value it. We had that so what we did was go onto the Property Price Register & look for comparable houses in our area sold in the previous 6 months. We then used that to get them to edit the valuation.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058335367/how-to-get-honest-house-valuation

If you want an accurate valuation, put your house up for sale and see what value the market puts on it. Otherwise just accept that all EAs are giving you nothing more than an estimate.

MakersMark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058335367/how-to-get-honest-house-valuation

That's not something you need protection from.

The EA will try to get you the highest price thay can.

The market will determine the price paid.

If you think too high a price will delay your sale, sell for 10% less than the EA suggests.

Kurooi

Prime them for the price you want. Say another EA was looking at it and valued it at 300k but you think it should be lower.

They'd be stupid to try and value it higher than 300k now

I’m struggling to see the downside of overvaluing your house. You say you “need” to get your house valued, if it’s for LTV or insurance then the higher the better, if it’s to sell, then it really makes no difference, the EA doesn’t set the selling price, the vendor, and more importantly the market do. In relation of the quality of EAs, the guide price means damn all, the important consideration is their profile, their costs and whether they are good at their job.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754193#Comment_121754193

This may not apply to the OP, but one scenario where an unwarranted high valuation could be detrimental to your interests is the case of inheriting property and needing to have it valued for Capital Acquisitions Tax.

noodler

I got my house valued when switching mortgage.

They came back with a 25% increase to the price I bought it for 3 years ago.

There's just no way it's worth that much, the recent sales in the area he was comparing it against were in such better nick.

Heighway61

Independent valuer?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754276#Comment_121754276

Surely that meant you got a better mortgage rate.

noodler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754338#Comment_121754338

Not really, bands seem fairly fixed and ot wasn't enough to get me from the 60% LTV to the 40%

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754230#Comment_121754230

Wouldn’t that be adjusted when the property sells?

noodler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754277#Comment_121754277

Yeah, tho I paid and new switcher arranged

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754345#Comment_121754345

So if the Valuer had valued it higher, you would have benefited?

noodler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754374#Comment_121754374

Yeah, seems to be a 0.05 - 0.01% benefit for the next band

Victor

"I’m struggling to see the downside of overvaluing your house." - LPT, CAT and CGT.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754378#Comment_121754378

That’s my point, I’m struggling to see why the op is getting hung up on a higher valuation, there is no downside. If it’s a case where he/she is choosing an EA to sell a property, then there are other more important considerations, the valuation is an arbitrary figure just as guide price is. Ultimately it’s how good the EA is, and what the market will pay that matters.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754390#Comment_121754390

LPT: What part does an EAs valuation play in the self declaration process?

CGT: Wouldn’t that depend on selling price?

CAT: the op mentions selling, would CAT not depend on what the property sells for?

So again Victor, what is the downside, or any side of a higher valuation than actual selling price?

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754347#Comment_121754347

No, the CAT value on an inheritance is the value on the "valuation date", which is usually the date on which you receive the asset from the executor or administrator. If you are the executor or administrator yourself, then it's likely the date of death - long before you'd be in a position to actually sell the house. You pay your CAT on that value no matter whether you keep it or sell it later - there's no scope for adjustment.

If you sell it at a later date for a value above the CAT value, you may be liable for Capital Gains Tax on the difference between the CAT value and what you sold it for.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754513#Comment_121754513

So does the valuation make a difference? If the CAT value is lower now as the op seems to want, he/she pays CGT if it sells at a higher price. The lower the value for CAT now, the higher the CGT later.

It seems at the moment that houses are selling above guide, valuations are arbitrary. Perhaps we would benefit from more info from the op as to why he/she needs a valuation.

Roadtoad

OP, how about some feedback/further detail, or even giving a 'thanks' to the useful contributors?

I asked an estate agent once for an honest valuation and an associated fee, as the property was not going to the open market, but was going to be offered to the children of the (deceased) owner. The agent's fee was modest enough.

(sad verse, this was in 2008, 15 minutes before the property world collapsed!)

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754534#Comment_121754534

If you're inheriting and then selling, then the two will balance out when you sell. If the CAT is too high now, then you'll just end up paying less CGT later (they're both 33%). Although, money in your pocket is always better than money in Revenue's pocket - but we can ignore that to keep things simple.

But if you're not selling the house and are using it as your Principal Private Residence, it could make a big difference (and remember, I did say this may not apply to the OP).

If the house was overvalued at the point of inheriting it, you'd end up paying too much CAT (at 33% on the value of the house after whatever exemptions you qualify for). So if it's over-valued by 20k, you'd potentially be paying €6,600 extra in tax.

If you use the house as a PPR, then when you do end up selling it, you wouldn't be liable for any CGT. But you still paid too much CAT back when you got the house.

There's another scenario where an overvaluation could be detrimental to your interests: The Fair Deal Scheme. You pay 7.5% per year on the value of of any assets. In the case the assets being property, you can defer the payment until after the person's death, but the amount you owe is based on the value of the assets while you were availing of the FDS, not the price you sell them for to pay for it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754619#Comment_121754619

The op mentions they are selling, and doesn’t make any reference to inheritance , that is what I based my answers on. The CGT if inheritance was the case, would be on the gain in the short term, rather than the overall price so it really wouldn’t make a difference.

Wavey

Thanks all for the replies.

The reason for the valuation is for transfer of title and equity calculation purposes.

It is not a simple sale.

Hence the need for a very true value.

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058335367/how-to-get-honest-house-valuation

Put your house on the market, go all the way to "sale agreed" - thats the value of your house at that point in time. Withdraw from sale.

If that's not feasible, approach three different auctioneers for a valuation, keep a record of same and go with the average given.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121895066#Comment_121895066

That really isn't practical in any sense and has costs. It would also be a pretty horrible thing to do to the people trying to buy.

Simply pay for a valuation from an estate agent and tell them what it is for. Very straight forward stuff to do. Some surveyors also offer the service which can be better as they can let you know if there are any issues that might be on the property

Wavey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121897487#Comment_121897487

Thanks

We have since had a number of EA in but we suggested we were intending to sell. Maybe this was a mistake and has resulted in higher valuations. I didnt enquire if they offered paid valuation service with no sale involved.

I know the bank will send an approved surveyor to value the house before lending. How would we find and engage a person like this?

All i can find online are more and more EA.

Victor

"How would we find and engage a person like this?" - the bank likely keeps a list of approved people. You could ask them for the list.

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121899986#Comment_121899986

Tell them you want a valuation and what the purpose is of the valuation, they'll charge a relatively small fee to value it for you (and if you disagree, you can pay other agents for valuations and see what the average is).

Banks would also provide a service to do this.

Wavey

Thanks, I Can now see a number of bank approved valuation surveyors.

Just need to know what to look for!