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Selling Your Property Privately

Monday, 13th January 2020
Valuation

Selling your house typically involves placing it on the open market with an Estate Agent where there are thousands of potential buyers. But what if you are not offering your property up to all these buyers? What if you are selling privately to another individual, perhaps even someone you who or a family member.

Estate Agent or Surveyor

Both provide valuations but for different purposes. An Estate Agent only has one objective: to convince you to market your property with them over one of their rivals. They have several ways to do this, beautiful brochures, a large client database, and the most common tool, saying they will achieve the highest price.

The majority will market your property at the very highest it could have a chance of achieving, dropping after a couple of months if there is little interest.

This is a far cry from the purpose you require, that is to determine the correct price to enable a fair transaction.

A surveyor, by contrast, has one clear and established aim: to provide their impartial opinion as to the price that would be achieved, if the property were to be put on the open market.

The RICS add numerous stipulations on any surveyor undertaking a valuation in their ‘Red Book’. These include :

  • Declaring that there are no conflicts of interest
  • Being MRICS or AssocICS qualified
  • Being a Registered Valuer
  • Stating that they have the appropriate expertise to undertake the instruction

Their report will also:

  • be clear and easy to understand
  • draw on a larger and more up to date sales database
  • involve between 3 and 5 hours of work to arrive at the correct conclusion

Conclusion

Whilst it can be tempting to use an Estate Agent’s valuation, what you will receive will rarely be fit for purpose. In many instances, it simply won’t be allowed.

Even if you are selling to a close friend or relative, you will always be able to fall back on a Chartered Surveyor’s valuation report and be confident both sides will leave confident in the final figure.

Peter Barry Surveyors have been undertaking this type of work for near on 4 decades. Please drop us an email or call us if you would like further information or to chat to one of our experienced colleagues.

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Marie Cardy
Had a Level 2 survey carried out recently, excellent service, clear and concise report delivered on time. Great service from start to finish from our first point contact Joanne to the surveyor Justin. Happily recommend.
Jordan Campbell
Fantastic company, very professional and provided an excellent service for my help to buy property valuation.
Michel Sfeir
Excellent service!

We booked a survey with Peter Barry Surveyors for the purchase of a home. Maianh was very quick to respond to our initial email and all follow up conversations. They also set us up with a pre-survey phone call with David Breeze (surveyor) who took the time to explain how the survey is conducted. They arranged access to the property directly with the realtor, and we received the report 4 working days later, after which we had another call with David to discuss the report and explained to us what the next steps were. We are now in the process of conducting the specialist surveys (with other companies) as per their recommendation.

Very helpful, very friendly, and professional.
Response from the owner:Thank you very much for your excellent review! We are delighted that you found our team to be helpful, friendly, and professional throughout the process, and I will certainly share your comments with Maianh and David. Thank you for choosing Peter Barry Surveyors!
B “bradz” M
I received an excellent service, with great communication, this company is fantasic, very helpful and highly recommended.
Response from the owner:Thank you for your recommendation.
lewis pemberton
Peter Barry just completed a party wall award for us in preparation for works on our property. They will fast, reliable and kept us in the loop throughout the process
Response from the owner:We appreciate your review Mr Pemberton, thank you.
Silvia Nacamulli
We used Peter Barry Chartered Surveyors for our Party Wall matters while carrying out structural works on our house. They were efficient, professional, and easy to communicate with. Amrita Johal was our main point of contact.
Response from the owner:Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, Silvia. We are thrilled to hear that you found our team at Peter Barry Chartered Surveyors efficient, professional, and easy to communicate with during your Party Wall matters. Amrita Johal will be delighted to hear your kind words. If you need any assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to reach out.
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