How much is your house worth?

How do estate agents value your house?

Valuing your home can seem like a daunting task but with the advancements in technology and the tools readily available on property portals today you can make a realistic, sensible valuation of your property.

At Emoov we offer a free online valuation to all potential vendors thinking of listing with us.

Our expert team will provide you with a realistic valuation based on:

• The specifications of your property: estimated square footage, any extensions or renovations
• The location
• Are you already on the market?
• When are you looking to sell: within a month, three months or just curious?
• Are you bedrooms single or doubles?
• What do you think it’s worth?
• Is there any loft insulation or cavity wall modification?
• Does the property have parking either a driveway or on the road?
• How the market is acting in your location at that specific time?
• Past and present sold and for sale data in your geographical location

How can I value my house myself?

If you do decide to value your property yourself here are a few things to consider:

Price Wisely:

It is important to remember property portals list and allow the search of their stock on a price bracket system, pricing wisely can increase the exposure your house receives.

For example if you list at £176,000 you will just miss the 175,000 bracket and therefore be bumped down the order towards the back end of the next bracket, say £180,000.

For the sake of a few thousand, which could be recovered during the negotiation process anyway, it is not worth listing just above or just below a price bracket.

Research:

The use of internet has hugely advanced the way in which prospective buyers and sellers can research the property market prior to the selling process. Zoopla and Rightmove both provide the tools to accurately value your house yourself by allowing you to research what houses are going for in the same area, but more importantly what houses have sold for recently.

This is the most valuable and truthful indicator of what the market is doing and will provide you with a figure to play with. Ultimately it is your choice what you list at but remember listening to the market is the best way for a quick and successful sale.

Listing for a similar price to what you paid years ago can result in you under cutting yourself or overpricing your property.

Be Realistic:

It is important when valuing your house to consider what makes it unique or desirable and there is nothing wrong with reflecting this in the price.

However adding tens of thousands on the asking price because you have a marginally larger garden than your neighbour, or because you are five doors closer to the shop or train station can be detrimental to your sale.

Detach yourself emotionally:

You may have seen your children grow up in that house or lived there since marrying your partner, buried a favourite pet in the garden or celebrated a landmark birthday but none of this is going to matter to a prospective buyer.

All they will care about is if they like the place and if it works for them. Therefore letting your emotions cloud your judgement can result in a lack of interest or the loss of a sale.

You can re-evaluate your house evaluation:

Don’t spend endless hours worrying if you are listing at the right price, get your advert live and let the interest in your ad help make your mind up. You can always change the asking price of your property, for example if you have been listed for three months and received nothing at all, try lowering your price by a few brackets.

You don’t have to sell at a lower price but use it as an indicator, if interest in your property increases you know you have originally valued it to high. In contrast if your phone melts due to the high call volume on the first day of listing, perhaps consider increasing the asking price. If this interest then fades you can always return to the original price bracket.

Remember don’t stress! It’s your property and you are ultimately in charge of the sale process, if you really aren’t comfortable with the price you’ve listed at or the offers you’re receiving you don’t have to sell.