Residential Valuations for First Home Buyer

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kingjj

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#86646 11-Jul-2011 11:47

My partner and I are currently looking at putting in an offer on a house with have our eye on. Being in Chch this is presenting more than a few challenges, the greatest of which is deciding how much to actually offer for the house. RV's in Chch have not been updated since 2007, just after the property boom and with current events they seem to be often way out of line with the market. The previous sale price for the house was nearly 50 grand above the the RV in 2006, current market figures would suggest that it should now be near the RV if not below it.

Can anyone recommend a registered valuer in Chch that they have used before and/or trust? Prices seem to hover around $400 for a full valuation which seems quite steep when added with a builders report and the usual fees. Are there any valuers that would offer a basic valuation service? We don't need a full report with history and area facts, we just need to have an idea that what we are considering asking is a fair price for the property.

Any other advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,

JJ

PS: House is in Green Zone and has only very minor damage, insurance is available.

bazzer

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#491977 11-Jul-2011 12:13

Are there actually people still doing valuations in Chch? Pretty hard to figure a reasonable market valuation in the current situation, I'd think. I would think 2007 valuation would be a reasonable place to start. In the end, I can't imagine demand is that high, even in the green zone, is it?

kingjj

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#491988 11-Jul-2011 12:21

bazzer: Are there actually people still doing valuations in Chch? Pretty hard to figure a reasonable market valuation in the current situation, I'd think. I would think 2007 valuation would be a reasonable place to start. In the end, I can't imagine demand is that high, even in the green zone, is it?

Demand is actually quite high considering. Mainly in the western and northern areas of town which were least effected by the quakes. Some of the property's we've looked at have had dozens of interested people. The prices in the market though seem to be quite volatile, in our experience two comparable houses can have very different prices in relation to RV and all other considerations.

langers1972

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#491998 11-Jul-2011 12:28

My advice FWIW would be to offer what you are prepared to pay and think it's worth as ultimately, a seller can only sell for what a buyer wants to pay and not the other way round.

The worst that can happen is you are told 'No' and then you can start to negotiate if you want.

I personally think that you can get a pretty good feel for what the market is doing just by keeping an eye on what's for sale, what sells and doesn't etc and you are the best judge of things.

Paying for a valuer on each one that you like could end up costing a fair bit and doesn't guarantee anything other than the valuers bank account increasing in size.

trig42

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#492025 11-Jul-2011 13:02

langers1972: My advice FWIW would be to offer what you are prepared to pay and think it's worth as ultimately, a seller can only sell for what a buyer wants to pay and not the other way round.

The worst that can happen is you are told 'No' and then you can start to negotiate if you want.

I personally think that you can get a pretty good feel for what the market is doing just by keeping an eye on what's for sale, what sells and doesn't etc and you are the best judge of things.

Paying for a valuer on each one that you like could end up costing a fair bit and doesn't guarantee anything other than the valuers bank account increasing in size.

I'd agree with this. You really have to keep an eye on the market and what else is selling (which is what a valuer will do). The $400 is about right for their services and you do get a nice little book on the property ;)

It is easy to find the GV of a property, from there you should be able to correlate that with what the houses are on the market for and do some sort of rough calculation as to the ratio between GV and asking price which in turn should give you some indication of what you should offer.

Unless the bank is demanding an RV, save yourself the cash.

Jaxson

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#492036 11-Jul-2011 13:13

trig42: Unless the bank is demanding an RV

If your finance will require it then it could be a useful bargaining tool you're going to need to pay for at some stage anyway.

Risk is totally that you get it and the seller sells to someone else etc. It's not much use to you then.

If there's heaps of demand/multiple offer situation then you'll be forced to price accordingly, but if it's just you and the seller, then don't be afraid of offering a stupidly low offer, especially if you have very little conditions attached and don't need to sell your own home first etc.

Handle9

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#492039 11-Jul-2011 13:22

kingjj: Are there any valuers that would offer a basic valuation service? We don't need a full report with history and area facts, we just need to have an idea that what we are considering asking is a fair price for the property.

I would guess the valuer is going to have to access this information anyway to value the house. It probably doesn't cost them anymore to include this than complile a 'basic' report.

One thing you should make sure of is that anyone you use for any service like this (building inspections/valuation etc) has profesional indemnity insurance. This means if they make a huge stuff up then you should be able to recover costs from them. You'll probably have to go to court to get anything out of them but it gives you some idea that they are serious about what they do.

ZollyMonsta

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#492043 11-Jul-2011 13:28

$400 is bloody cheap for an RV.. in Wellington it's between $570-$630 incl GST.

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keewee01

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#492060 11-Jul-2011 14:00

ZollyMonsta: $400 is bloody cheap for an RV.. in Wellington it's between $570-$630 incl GST.

+1 - We paid at least $400 about 7 years ago in Lower Hutt

mattwnz

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#492064 11-Jul-2011 14:15

kingjj: My partner and I are currently looking at putting in an offer on a house with have our eye on. Being in Chch this is presenting more than a few challenges, the greatest of which is deciding how much to actually offer for the house. RV's in Chch have not been updated since 2007, just after the property boom and with current events they seem to be often way out of line with the market. The previous sale price for the house was nearly 50 grand above the the RV in 2006, current market figures would suggest that it should now be near the RV if not below it.

Can anyone recommend a registered valuer in Chch that they have used before and/or trust? Prices seem to hover around $400 for a full valuation which seems quite steep when added with a builders report and the usual fees. Are there any valuers that would offer a basic valuation service? We don't need a full report with history and area facts, we just need to have an idea that what we are considering asking is a fair price for the property.

Any other advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,

JJ

PS: House is in Green Zone and has only very minor damage, insurance is available.

It is worth as much as you are prepared to pay. If you are getting a loan, they require a valuation anyway. From my experience many registered valuers will over value a house, so the councils RV is likely to be more accurate. Plus if the gov has to buy the property back due to land problems for the eqs, you could only get back the RV anyway, so you don't want to be out of pocket should another big earthquake occur. RVs have come back in price between 5-10% since 2007, and in Chch it may have dropped even more, especially considering the risk of future problems. Have you made sure you can get insurance?

ZollyMonsta

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#492077 11-Jul-2011 14:31

This made for interesting reading too

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5259701/Fraud-office-gets-tough-on-rogue-valuers

So use a reputable valuer (ask around for recommendations if you can).

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kingjj

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#492258 12-Jul-2011 00:01

Agree with all your comments, thanks heaps for your input. Our lender requires a registered valuation as part of the mortgage so it is something we will have to do. However we will probably wait until after we have made our initial offer which will be quite low, well under the rv and work our way along from there. I've done a lot of research into current prices and conditions and am confident that we will be offering a fair price.

As for prices, I've been quoted between $405 and $500 for a complete valuation, so that's one plus for the old shakey I suppose... Cheers all

Ragnor

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#492273 12-Jul-2011 03:36

Think of it this way if a valuation saves you over paying by even as little as $10k it's saved you 25 x $400 worth.

itxtme

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#492326 12-Jul-2011 09:30

Another other option of course is to ask for stats on areas around where you are wanting to purchase. The realestate agents will have access to that information. You can then compare sale prices since the quake to GV's. It just gives you extra ammunition to base your offer on.

mattwnz

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#492491 12-Jul-2011 15:10

itxtme: Another other option of course is to ask for stats on areas around where you are wanting to purchase. The realestate agents will have access to that information. You can then compare sale prices since the quake to GV's. It just gives you extra ammunition to base your offer on.

Trademe property searches also show you what has sold recently and how much with most properties. I don't too much has sold down there since the eqs. Also you would probably want to ask the bank who their valuers are, as the bank may not agree with your valuers figure, so you don't want to have to pay for two valuations.