Top Tips For Valuing Your Property
Valuing your home can be a challenging task, with so many factors that need to be taken into account including a thorough understanding of the property market as well as local market trends, it’s difficult to know where to start. Ultimately, an estate agent will need to be appointed for their expertise in this field. Here are a few tips to help you get a broad idea of what your property is worth before or whilst you contact an Estate Agent.
- Comparing properties
- Property market trends
- Housing market predictions
- Previous sales price
- Consider the local area
1. Comparing Properties
The first step to valuing your own property is to find out the sales price of similar properties in your area. Zoopla is a great and easy tool to use for this. It uses land registry data starting from 1995 to show the value of properties sold in a specific postcode. It also shows how much prices have changed since then so you can see when might be a good time to consider selling. While this resource usually takes a few months to update new properties it’s a great starting point for valuing your home.
2. Property Market Trends
Another good initial step is to directly check the UK House Price Index. This also takes data directly from the land registry. However, unlike online portals, it looks more at market trends and can be broken down by national, regional, and local housing markets. Because of this, it can give a broader view of the property market in your area.
3. Housing Market Predictions
An Estate Agent takes great care and detail into assessing what is happening locally in the market, to do this you need to be able to understand the previous and current housing market. They also base their predictions from data not available to the public, which would include home valuations which are not yet listed and existing data in their systems. Estate Agents have large volumes of data to report on and have more information accessible to them in being able to predict the market. Local agents will often pass some of this data on and will often provide updates about the local housing market in the area they operate. Here at James Douglas, we provide a monthly local property market update. Make sure you are following your local agent to help you to navigate the housing market.
4. Previous Sales Price
Another good indicator to take into consideration is the previous sales price of your property. A great online tool for this is the Nationwide house price index. It uses the previous sales price to give an estimate of how much the property is worth now. It doesn’t take into account any improvements that have been made to your home.
5. Consider The Local Area
The final factor to take into account is what are the risks and benefits of your area? There are certain factors that can raise a property’s value. Local amenities are one of the easiest things to look at first. Amenities such as schools and sports facilities are great for raising the value of a house. Transport links are also a great value adder so if you are close to a railway station that’s another plus. However, not all amenities are beneficial. If your property is close to a tip or busy motorway that can be a cost detractor so it’s important to analyse local areas. Environmental factors are also becoming a more important concern for buyers. An example of this would be the flood risk in your area. Luckily, the Environment Agency has detailed information about flood risks as well as air pollution factors. Lastly, the crime rate in an area can also affect the price of houses. You can find this by going to the police.uk website to find out what the crime rate is in your area and how it compares to other areas nearby.
In summary, when assessing the value of your own home independently it’s important to take into account all the factors mentioned above. While you won’t get an exact, accurate figure it should give you a good estimate of what your property is worth. If you would like to book a free home valuation to get a professional opinion you can register your interest here.
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