Tim and Julia Haycocks, the husband-and-wife team behind Stowhill Estates Berkshire, are tackling your property questions each week, with honest guidance, clear opinions and useful, real-world advice for anyone navigating the Berkshire property market. This week we’re discussing valuations …

“We’ve had three agents value our house and one has come in much higher than the others. Obviously, we’d love them to be right, but should we be excited or suspicious?!”
R.H, Binfield

This happens a lot, and let’s be honest, it is very tempting to believe the biggest number.

Why wouldn’t you? If two agents say one thing and another agent says your house is worth significantly more, most people naturally want the higher one to be true. We all would. Nobody opens a valuation report and thinks, “Wonderful, I was hoping for the lower figure.”

The question is not whether the higher valuation is definitely wrong. It might not be. The question is whether it can be properly justified.

Ask how they got there. What comparable sales are they using? Are they comparing sold prices or asking prices? Are those homes genuinely similar in size? Is it genuinely comparable in terms of condition, plot, location and presentation? Or is the agent using the house down the road that was bigger, finished to a higher standard and had a better garden, because it helps support a more exciting number?

There is a big difference between an ambitious valuation and an inflated one. Ambitious can be fine if there is a clear strategy behind it. Inflated is when the number is used to win the instruction and the seller is left dealing with the consequences later.

Those consequences can be frustrating. You launch too high, the best buyers see it, decide it is overpriced and move on. A few weeks later, you reduce. Then perhaps reduce again. Suddenly the property starts to look a bit tired online, even though there may be absolutely nothing wrong with it.

That does not mean you should always choose the middle valuation either. Sometimes an agent sees something others have missed. Better marketing, stronger buyer targeting and proper negotiation can absolutely affect the final result.

But ask for the evidence. Ask what happens if the market does not respond. Ask what the plan is for the first two weeks, the first month and beyond. If the answer is basically, “Don’t worry, we’ve got loads of buyers,” I’d probably worry slightly.

A good agent should be able to explain not just what they think your home is worth, but why, who they think will buy it, how they plan to reach them, and what the strategy is if the market gives different feedback.

By all means be excited by the higher number. Just don’t be blinded by it.

Choosing the agent who tells you what you want to hear can feel lovely at the kitchen table. It can feel a lot less lovely three months later when the only conversation left is about reducing the price.

All the best,
Tim & Julia

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