There are many times in life when you may require a house valuation. This can involve both buying and selling a house, planning investment decisions, and taking equity out of the house. This offers a precise, impartial estimate of your property’s market value, but deciding how to go about this can be daunting. This guide is here to help with tips on what to do and what not to do, as well as the key areas you should be focusing on. Interested? Keep reading to find out more.
Do: Use a Qualified RICS Regulated Surveyor
First, you must engage a surveyor accredited under RICS’s “Red Book” standards to ensure compliance, impartiality, and global best practices. This means taking your time and fully researching the surveyor to ensure that they are regulated. This is key to ensuring valuations are independent and consistent by using professional judgment and local market knowledge.
Do: Prepare Thoroughly Before the Visit
As when staging your home to be sold, you want to make sure that you make your home as appealing as possible before the valuation. Of course, many determining factors will be outside of your control, but there are still things you can do influence the final figure. This includes decluttering and deep cleaning, carrying out any minor repairs, and considering desirable home upgrades (such as solar panels). Additionally, make sure all areas are accessible and provide planning documents, certificates, and receipts to substantiate claims.
Don’t: Rely Only on Automated Estimates
There are many online tools that can offer a quick ballpark figure, but you should not rely on these. These tools use basic factors and lack the rigour of a professional valuation and can be misleading. Utilise estate agents during this process as they can provide an initial assessment or expert guidance on choosing the right company for your house valuation.
Don’t: Conceal Issues or Provide Incomplete Info
It might be tempting to conceal any issues about your home, but this will do you no favours in the long-run as they will always be discovered at one point or another and lead to downgrades later in the process. This is why you should be fully transparent about any issues upfront, such as damp or subsidence. You should also make sure that all of the information you provide is complete and accurate.
If you are planning on getting a house valuation, the advice in this post should be useful. There are many situations where you require a house valuation, so it is important that you know how to prepare for these and what you should and should not do. Once you have a fair and accurate valuation in place, you will then be in a strong position for your next move and can make a decision with confidence.