Valuation of Property

[~Hestia~]

DH and I are going through the process of buying another property. As part of that our current home is being valued by our bank. I have visions of cleaning the entire house out and patching up the odd mark on the wall all weekend! DH thinks they don't go into that much detail, that they look past that.

Have you had your house valued? Should I prepare for a very busy weekend

[Teeki]

You want it to look good from the front, a first impression makes a big difference! So I'd spend time on the garden and driveway, and making sure it looks neat. After that they'll take note of how many rooms, how big, are they dated etc. The report will say if you've done things like updated your kitchen, bathroom etc, if fittings and fixtures are in good condition, if it's functional. They're really just looking at how much would someone buy this for, and they'll compare it to similar properties in your area and note if it's inferior, comparable or superior. So I'd make sure it's neat and he can see what he needs to, but don't go too overboard

[BellyBelly]

Yeah dont go nuts, they strongly go on current sales in your area too. Even though we painted and carpeted the boys room, new dishwasher, went friggen nuts cleaning - we got exactly the same as 6 months ago. They do look at other factors. They are looking at the worst case scenario they could get for it if you bomb out and they need to sell it as is, and quickly.

Bathroom and kitchen are the big ones for value on a home. But we dont want to renovate lol!

[Miss.September]

When we sold our house, the bank came to value it for the purchaser. Honestly, he spent five minutes looking around. Checked how many rooms, asked a few questions. That was it. The house was tidy in and out. Good luck!

[black_rose]

When we had it done I was on bed rest with ds so couldn't clean all he did was measure the rooms, and that was it! They don't care about furniture or clutter it's not what values the house.

[YoYo]

Our bank valuation they didn't even go in the house, I think just valued it on amount of land, how many bedrooms/bathrooms it's age and where it was. Bank valuations are always less than market valuations too I think.

[~TT40~]

Ooo this is very handy to know. Im keen to see what ours is worth especially as we just got a new roof. I would have done the same and had the place spotless etc..

[HotI]

The guy who did our evaluation was pretty thorough. He had a look through all rooms in the house and did measurements etc.

I wouldn't paint or clear stuff out, unless you want to and the evaluation is a good excuse to get a lot of stuff up to date.

good luck

[Astrid]

I had one bank value over the phone! Just called up and confirmed rooms etc.

[Janie71]

We had ours done recently and he did spend quite a bit of time looking around, measuring and asking questions. I was armed with info, I had a floor plan for him, info about improvements we had made and even some details on recent sales in the area (they will do this themselves but I wanted to emphasise the value we believed it to be).

All paid off as came in with a valuation almost $90k more than when we had initially valued 18 months prior!

[Teeki]

I had one bank value over the phone! Just called up and confirmed rooms etc.

It depends how old the house is, where it is, when it was last valued, what the expected value is and why it's being valued. Sometimes they'll do a modelled estimate (yours would have been Astrid) where they just look it up on government value sites and compare to recent sales in the area. Next step up is a kerbside valuation, next up is a full one where they go through the whole place.

I've always been a bit suss of some of our valuers, I don't believe many of them actually drive past let alone stop when they're supposed to do a kerbside, and some of the full ones are very brief.

[~TT40~]

Does it make a difference between bank vs real estate doing it?

[Teeki]

Does it make a difference between bank vs real estate doing it?

Definitely! Real estate agent wants your business so will talk up the potential selling price. Bank wants to lower their risk in a worst case scenario so will be much more conservative incase they ever need to sell.

[Rowellen]

IME, the bank valuation will generally come in at whatever you tell them it is worth. Have done so four times with the same result. I highly doubt they did a thing apart from a quick search on rp data and current sales! On the latest one, I don't think they even did that because based on our research, the bank overvalued our place by about $40K-$50K.

[Taurean]

We had three valuations on our investment property recently (the one we are currently living in) and two valuations were identical and around what we expected. The third was $30k lower. They all had a good sticky beak, a good chat with me about what we'd done since buying it and future planned renovations. The first two were much more thorough though and took a lot of measurements. The third guy, the lowest valuation, just wanted a chat I reckon!

My advice is have it clean and presentable but I wouldn't bother fixing minor things up.

[black_rose]

Yes there is a difference with banks and agents, banks will normally value less than a real estate. Agents will advise you if you can do anything to get a higher price.

[~Hestia~]

Thanks everyone, sounds like a broad range of experiences! Think I'll just play it safe and have a good clean out (which I have been wanting to do for ages) and if I have time I'll fix a few minor things.

Do you think they would be interested in the plans we have drawn up for a 2nd story extension? We're not continuing on with the renovation but the plans are all ready to go for a prospective buyer.

[Livinthedream]

If the plans are council approved, then yes, I would show him.
We just had a bank valuation and they were very thorough, noting the condition of the floor coverings and cabinetry.
I would def have it looking clean and tidy, general impressions are really important.
Good luck