Tips for full valuation of House - getting best outcome

Looking for some tips full valuation to determine equity position form our 3 bedroom house (with pool)

 

Presentation helps a lot.

Clean and de-cluttered is a good start.

I had an IP valued whilst untidy tenants were in the property and the result wasn't that great. Six months later - new tenants were in and the house presented beautifully. I ordered another val - and it came back quite a bit higher

Do you have supporting comparable sales? If so - you could offer them to the valuer....maybe with a smile and a "I know you're probably all over these sales but I thought I'd just share them in case...."

Cheers

Jamie

 

De-clutter. Scrub it to within an inch of it's life - make it sparkle. Attend to any repairs - loose door knobs, broken window glass etc. Make it smell good - scented candles, coffee, baked biscuits. Re-paint if it needs doing. Street appeal - mow grass, trim trees, rake leaves.

Is a valuer going to be fooled by these things? Not at all. BUT you won't get "marked down" or compared as "similar" to the cheapest of 6 comparables he can find either.

If you have a 3brm + study that you are trying to pass off as a 4brm, then actually put a single bed in the study (ditch the desk and filing cabinet) and make it look like a bedroom. If your furniture is old and shabby consider hiring new for 1 week or until the val has been done.

 

When providing comparable sales make sure they have settled. I hear many people saying the house down the road just sold for X and therefore my house is worth Y. Most lenders have instructions that the valuer can only used settled sales.

The truth is lenders have strict service level agreements with the valuation firms and many valuers have already prepared the majority of the report prior to the inspection including the comparable sales....

 

You're spot on.

This one always baffles me though - how offen do unconditional purchases not settle? I've never seen it happen. You'd also think that very recent purchases would be a more accurate measure of the current market price. I'm having this argument with a valuer at the moment :-(

Cheers

Jamie

 

My advice? Get your broker to get a couple of vals done upfront, rather than do an application and hope the valuer agrees with your estimate.

Get a desktop, kerbside and maybe more than one full val if necessary. Better to know what you are dealing with upfront.

 

Here is a tip, Valex require settled properties, however, VMS allow for unsettled properties. A couple years ago the market was hot in a specific area in Melbourne and I was speaking to a valuer and he said that recently he couldn’t give contract price as there were no settled comparable sales, however, there were sufficient unsettled comparable sales. Put simply, if the valuation was done via VMS he would be able to justify contract price but not through Valex. With most settlements being 60-120 days in the area coupled with the suburb sales going through the roof in a very short period it caused a bit of chaos for his patch. They were also putting a risk rating of 5 for the suburb which exacerbated issues with vals.

Trouble is most lenders use Valex.....

 

How'd that go? It's not really the valuer's fault/choice if I remember correctly?

 

Still waiting on the outcome - should know later this week.

Cheers

Jamie

 

Excellent tips above.

My 2c: treat the valuation like a sale. Prepare, present and sell the property to the valuer (in a friendly respectful way). Having the valuer on your side can help get you across the line.

Best of luck!