5 Things You Don’t Want to Hear at Your Home Valuation
Choosing an estate agent isn’t just about who gives you the highest valuation or the lowest fee. What they say during the appointment can reveal a lot about how they’ll handle your sale. From “testing the water” to vague promises of ready-made buyers, here are five phrases that should make sellers stop, think and ask a few more questions.
Inviting an estate agent into your home to discuss selling can feel like the first real step towards a move. Naturally, one of the biggest questions on your mind will be: “What is my home worth?”
However, let's get one thing straight... a good valuation appointment should be about much more than simply arriving at a number.
The agent should be able to explain how they have reached their recommendation, how they would position your property in the market, how they plan to generate interest and, importantly, how their advice fits around your own circumstances and objectives.
So, if you are meeting agents before putting your home on the market, here are five phrases that should set off the alarm bells and perhaps make you stop and ask a few more questions.
“We can always test the water…”
On the face of it, it sounds perfectly reasonable. Why not start slightly higher, see what happens and reduce the price later if necessary?
There are occasions when launching at an ambitious asking price can form part of a sensible strategy. The important word there, though, is strategy. Your asking price shouldn’t simply be an experiment.
A good estate agent should be able to explain why they are recommending a particular price, where your property sits within the local market, what type of buyer they expect it to appeal to and how the asking price will help achieve your objectives.
The first few weeks of marketing are also important. This is when your property is new to the market and potentially attracting the greatest attention from buyers who are already searching. If the price is unrealistic from day one, some of those buyers may simply overlook it.
At this point, I'm not going to blabber on about overpricing being the scourge of our industry, there are plenty of other Cope & Co. blogs that cover this topic!
Reducing later can generate renewed interest, but it is not necessarily the same as getting the strategy right from the beginning.
So, if an agent suggests “testing the water”, ask them why.
If there is a CLEAR rationale behind it, that is one thing. If there isn’t, the alarm bells should perhaps start ringing.
“If another agent is cheaper, I can match their fee…”
Estate agency fees matter, of course they do. Nobody wants to pay more than they need to, but the cheapest fee does not automatically produce the best financial outcome.
If an agent immediately offers to reduce their fee simply because another agent has quoted less, it is worth asking what their original fee represented in the first place.
More importantly, think about the bigger numbers involved in your move.
An agent who negotiates several thousand pounds more for your property, identifies the strongest buyer rather than simply the highest initial offer, manages a complicated chain effectively or helps prevent a sale from falling apart can potentially make a far greater difference than a small saving on the agency fee.
That doesn’t mean sellers should ignore fees or avoid negotiating them. It simply means that value and cost are not the same thing.
A good agent should be comfortable explaining what they charge, what you receive in return and why they believe their service represents good value.
“Here are some similar properties currently on the market…”
Comparing your home with other properties for sale is a perfectly legitimate part of a valuation but you have to be careful, it should only be part of the picture. There is a fundamental difference between the price somebody is asking for their home and the price a buyer is actually prepared to pay for it.
A property being marketed at £300,000 does not necessarily mean that it is worth £300,000. It may eventually sell for that figure. It may sell for less. It may not sell at all.
A considered valuation should therefore look at a range of evidence. That could include properties that have sold, recent sales agreed, homes currently competing for the same buyers, local demand and the agent’s own experience of negotiating sales in your area.
And even then, comparisons need context. Two houses may both have four bedrooms and sit half a mile apart, but differences in road, plot, condition, extensions, parking, outlook, layout and presentation can all affect buyer perception and ultimately value. A comparable isn’t useful simply because it has the same number of bedrooms and happens to be nearby.
Your agent should be able to explain the differences as well as the similarities.
“Don’t worry, we’ve already got a buyer for it…”
For a seller, this can sound particularly reassuring. It may even be true!
A good local estate agent should have a database of buyers and may well know people who would be interested in your home. “We’ve got a buyer” deserves a little more investigation. Has that person actually been looking at properties like yours? What is their budget? Are they in a position to proceed? Do they have a property to sell? Have their finances been checked? And what specifically makes the agent think they would be interested in your home?
Most importantly, one potential buyer should not replace a proper marketing strategy. The aim when launching a property is usually to create as much relevant interest as possible. Multiple interested buyers can improve your negotiating position and give you options if one person decides not to proceed.
Having genuine buyers ready to contact is undoubtedly a positive but relying on one vague promise that “we’ve got somebody for it” is rather different!
“We’ll get it online and see what happens…”
Property websites have transformed the way people search for homes. Professional photography, floorplans, online portals and social media can all play an important role in presenting your property to buyers but putting a property online is not, by itself, a marketing strategy.
At this point, you need to ask "What happens next?".
Who will contact suitable buyers? How will viewings be followed up? How quickly will you receive feedback? What will happen if interest is slower than expected? How will offers be negotiated? How will the agent establish which buyer is in the strongest position? And, once you accept an offer, who will progress the sale and communicate with solicitors, buyers, sellers and other estate agents within the chain?
Getting your property onto the internet is relatively straightforward. Managing the process from For Sale to Sold is where much of an estate agent’s work actually takes place.
Perhaps the biggest alarm bell of all…
There is one thing that should concern you more than any particular phrase... the agent who spends the entire valuation talking about your property without spending much time finding out about you because two people selling identical houses could require completely different advice.
One seller may have no onward move and be prepared to wait patiently for the best possible price. Another may already have found their next home and need to secure a buyer quickly. Someone else may be relocating for work, trying to move before the beginning of a school term or managing a sale as part of a wider family situation.
For some sellers, achieving every last pound may be the priority. For others, speed, certainty or flexibility might matter just as much.
Before recommending how you should sell, a good estate agent should therefore want to understand why you are moving, where you hope to go, your timescales, your priorities, your concerns and what a successful move actually looks like for you.
Only then can they recommend a strategy that fits, because a home valuation should never simply be a competition to see which agent can suggest the highest asking price or the lowest fee.
The most useful appointment is the one that leaves you understanding your property’s likely value, the evidence behind it, the proposed marketing strategy and how that strategy will help you achieve your own objectives.
A good estate agent doesn’t just value your home. They take the time to understand your move.
Thinking About Selling?
If you’re considering a move and would like an honest, evidence-based conversation about your home, your options and what the right selling strategy might look like for you, we’d be happy to help.
At Cope & Co., our valuations are about more than simply putting a number on your property. We take the time to understand your circumstances, your timescales and what you actually want to achieve from your move. Book your free, no-obligation valuation using the link below and let’s talk about the best way forward for you.
