Just been to view a house that needs £15k of damp work doing. It’s a gorgeous grade 2 listed property with some sea views and on at £385k. Estate agent reckoned if house was amazing it’d be worth £450k-500k.

I’ve done some amateur sleuthing and three different sites (although I suspect two use the same engine) reckon the house is worth £350-360k, £405k if in pristine condition.

House hasn’t been sold for 20 years, so there is a degree of estimation going on.

So if I were to use Zoopla as a reference, how seriously is it taken, compared to the best guess of someone that’s lived in the area for a while?

FWIW I also Zoopla’d our house and it’s pretty much what I expected, although we’ve only been here four years so the estimation is easier.

You want to look at similar houses in the area and look at any recent purchase prices if you want any kind of accuracy. Though this isnt easy to do if there is a low turnover of similar houses in the location. The value’s from property portals will be aggregated so representative not accurate – and in some cases can be quite misleading.

I am in the process of buying a house at the moment, but it’s a terraced 2 bed so easier to get an understanding of value as everything around it is similar.

I would suggest going on rightmove and actually look at the properties in and around it.

If it needs that much spent on it (£15k+ and a lot more I imagine?) it doesn’t sound a great investment. even if you got £450k, after stamp duty etc, you’re not clearing a massive profit.

I’m pretty risk averse, but I’d not want to take a punt on that – I’d want 2 or 3 separate professional opinions to consider.

I just looked up one of mine on zoopla and its 20% below the one listed on rm. Mine is better as is fully south facing, the one for sale is fully north facing.

Suspect z values on last sale price plus indexing for the area. I did get mine at a good price but would never sell it at the z value.

Next door is almost identical, but not been sold in a long time (can’t find a record of it). Otherwise there’s some new builds of a similar size (but with a lot less private land and nearer the sea) at the bottom of the garden, but the rest of the properties vary from one-bed flats to large 6 bed period houses on decent plots.

TBH it’s why I’m asking, as the area is fairly diverse. It’s a nice, convenient area, but diverse.

Edit:

If it needs that much spent on it (£15k+ and a lot more I imagine?) it doesn’t sound a great investment. even if you got £450k, after stamp duty etc, you’re not clearing a massive profit.

I’m looking at it as a home for several years rather than an investment (which obviously it is, but not a short-term one).

I’m pretty risk averse, but I’d not want to take a punt on that – I’d want 2 or 3 separate professional opinions to consider.

Speaking to a few other agents now to get a better idea, and enticing them with a ‘we could be selling’ carrot. No doubt word will get back to the original agent; we’ll have to see how that works out.

(Anecdotal not pertaining to the whole market) zoopla are way off on my flat and the other 12 in the block.
Last one sold for £320k mine was valued at £225. You can’t buy a grim studio the wrong side of the railway line in the local badlands for that. If I listed it for that it would be under offer before the end of the day.

Unique listed properties are worth whatever somebody will pay.

(Anecdotal not pertaining to the whole market) zoopla are way off on my flat and the other 12 in the block.

Good to know. Just trying to work out whether it can be used as grounds for negotiation.

Tbh i d try the same but if i was selling and got a zoopla type offer i d just laugh it off. Problem with the current mkt is that very little comes up so when it does its on at silly money. You cant blame the seller the agents all charm you with stories how they can get top money for it. Wait till interest rate tick up and landlord reforms kick in.

IME no-one has a scooby when it comes to valuing unique properties. I sold one a couple of years ago, estate agent valuations varied by a factor of two. It’s worth what someone will pay, no more and no less.