House Sale - Valuation Valuing the Property

There are many ways of arriving at a valuation of a property and it is wrong to suggest that a particular property only has one value. A Lender's surveyor, for example, may place a slightly low valuation on the property for the protection of the Lender. An estate agent, on the other hand, may place an exceptionally high valuation on the property in the hope of persuading the seller to use his services in selling the property. Edinburgh Solicitors have wide experience in valuing properties for sale purposes and they also have the considerable benefit of access to the ESPC property records, in which the prices of all properties sold by Edinburgh solicitors in the past few years have been recorded.

Obtaining a Survey Report

In some cases, it may be advisable to obtain a pre-sale survey report on the property. This would be useful, for example, in the case of a block of flats where there is some doubt whether a Lender's will accept the flat as proper security for a loan. Such a pre-sale survey should confirm whether or not potential buyers will be able to obtain a loan over the property and should also give an indication of the valuation which the buyer's surveyors may put on the property.

Calculating An Asking Price

There are many ways of calculating the price at which the property should be advertised. For example, if there is a minimum price below which the seller is not prepared to sell the property, then it can make sense to advertise the property at "Offers over" this minimum price. Again if there is a particular price which the seller hopes to achieve for the property, it may be prudent to advertise the property at "Offers over" a rather lower price in the hope of stimulating interest in the property at this lower rate.

It can be dangerous to fix too high a price on the property, as this may deter interested parties. If a property has been under-priced and because of this a good deal of interest has been created in the property, then it will usually achieve a price well over the asking price.

In some cases, it may be advisable to advertise the property for sale at a "Fixed price". For example, if the property is likely to appeal to a first-time purchaser, such buyers may be deterred by the possibility of having to pay more than an advertised price.