How to Get a House Valuation

Getting your a house valuation is the first step to selling your house.

And even if you aren’t selling your house, knowing its value is often worthwhile.

There are several ways to get one. Read on to find out about each one.

Ways to get a house valuation

With an estate agent

Estate agents will provide a valuation for your house. They will visit it in person and look around for 30 minutes to one hour.

Once this is done, you will receive a rough valuation of what it could sell for. The estate agent will not typically charge for valuations.

With a chartered surveyor

A chartered surveyor is another professional who provides valuations.

You should search for ones in your area and ask them to visit your property and make a judgement.

These individuals are non-biased and are not trying to sell your house. You are thus more likely to get an accurate opinion from them.

With online estate agents

Several large organisations provide online house valuations. Rightmove and Zoopla are two well-known examples.

These organisations will ask for all the key details about your house. This includes:

Number of rooms
Square footage
Garden space
Parking allocations
Nearby amenities.

And more.

You could also be asked to provide a virtual walkaround tour of your house. This can be done via Zoom link, Skype or Microsoft Teams.

With cash buyers

Cash buying companies will value your house for free via an online valuation.

Their valuation will be below the market rate. This is the amount of up-front cash they will pay for the property.

You can sell to these companies quickly and in any condition, which explains the difference in valuation.

True value vs market value

You should remember that not all valuations are handled in the same way.

For example, a property’s ‘true value’ is what the house is worth, independent of all exterior factors.

Its ‘market value’ means what it would sell for on the open market. In other words, what people are willing to pay is based on economic factors.

How much does a house valuation cost?

Most estate agents will value your house for free.

They do this so that you will agree to sell the property with them, and they can charge you fees and make a commission on the sale.

Not all estate agents offer this free of charge, though. Check with the company to make sure you aren’t misled.

If you want to bring in an independent expert, such as a RICS surveyor, then this will cost you a small amount. The average fee is around £250 for this service.

Who is legally allowed to do a house valuation?

In theory, most of the time, it is your choice what you list your house on the market for.

But in practice, you usually need an ‘official’ valuation completed by a qualified expert.

Banks may not lend the full mortgage value if they disagree with the selling price value. In these cases, they will send a surveyor to value the house.

And when you inherit a probate house, a RICS surveyor must give a valuation. This will impact the inheritance tax you need to pay.