How to value your home Blog: http://www.mouseprice.com/info/articles/property-valuation/how-to-value-your-home/
Introduction If you are looking to sell your property, assessing its value is one of the central tasks you will have to perform. Your asking price will be based on market prices and calculations of financial profitability. A good valuation, however, is not simply your estate agent telling you he could sell your house for far more cash than the Smiths down the road got for theirs. Appraising the value of a property is a complex issue where many factors have to be taken into account – it is a combination of art and science.
The Faults of Estate Agents’ Valuations Independent property valuations are only performed by chartered surveyors. It is a common misconception that Estate Agents value your property for you. Agents simply guide you to a suggested asking price – they cannot be relied upon to provide objective and accurate valuations. The asking price an Estate Agent recommends is often over-inflated because of their desire to appease the seller in order to win an instruction. On the other hand Estate Agents may encourage a seller to accept a below-market offer in order to secure a quick sale (a high turnover is much more profitable for an agent than a marginal increase in the selling price). Since you cannot be sure of your Agent’s motives, it is generally recommended that you perform an independent valuation.
DIY Valuation It is perfectly possible for non-professionals to do their own valuations. Unfortunately, a thorough understanding of valuation theory and methodology is not commonplace. There has been little comprehensive literature available as to what constitutes value and what the different methods of determining the worth of a property are. The following article will provide some insight into theoretical approaches to value and valuation methodology. There are two main theoretical approaches to determining the value of a house, namely the“Comparable Sales Method” and the “Income Approach”. A third method, the “Cost Approach”, will be discussed briefly, but as it is not an autonomous approach, emphasis will be put on the first two methods. The first valuation method focuses on actual market data, whereas the second calculates the profitability of the