Hampstead property valuations: property values in London NW6

The value of a property

Is for a buyer ultimately to decide. But as estate agents, our job in residential sales is to sell your property for the best price that we can get for it. The first step in doing that is to value it i.e., make an assessment of what we believe we can sell the property for. Some people think, from the variation in valuation figures given to them from different estate agents, that this is merely a question of popping along to meet the vendor, recalling the price that a property down the road sold for and coming up with an intuitive guess as to what could be achieved.

Although many factors play a part an explanation of the process and the market forces that influence property values may be of help in understanding this concept of 'what your property is worth'.

When we at Paramount Properties carry out a valuation of a property we assess an 'open-market' valuation. It varies from a lender's surveyor's 'valuation' in as much our valuation is simply the price we believe we can sell the property for (open-market). A surveyor may take into account other factors, and err on the side of caution due to the fact that the report to the lender needs to be a safe one for the lender's purposes.

Estate agents and surveyors alike will start with a base line of comparative data; what are the most similar properties to the one being valued, what did they sell for and when. Details are then considered to see what distinguishes the property in question to those that have been sold or are on the market. In making these comparisons and distinctions, square footage/figures are often used, again as a baseline. If the property being valued is in better decorative order, well maintained and the garden has been properly landscaped these differences and market conditions mean that we may value higher or lower. Sometimes we will adjust our assessment after marketing of the property has started and we can gauge responses.

This is because from the people we have registered who are looking to buy a property, they usually have a fairly specific requirement and set budget and they may well have viewed a number of properties with us over a period of time so we know what the buyers want and what they are prepared to pay for it.

In other words, it is the market that dictates the value of your property and, more accurately, but less helpfully, the value of your property is worth as much as someone is prepared to pay for it!