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When someone attempts to sell a property, often they’ll get a formal valuation that estimates how much the home is worth. You could find it’s harder to attract buyers if you try to sell your flat house or flat without a valuation, as this guide explains, whilst also offering you tips on some actions that you can take in order to make getting a fast and fair offer still achievable.
- What is a valuation when trying to sell a property?
- Reasons why an owner may not want a valuation when selling a home
- Buyers may be wary about purchasing a property lacking a valuation
- Can a buyer obtain a mortgage for a home without a valuation?
- Deciding to get a valuation before attempting to sell your house or flat
- Your choices to find a buyer for your property lacking a valuation
- Top queries and answers about selling a home without a valuation
What is a valuation when trying to sell a property?
For many home sales throughout the UK, a valuation is an essential part of the process – but some owners try to sell without one, and this can create some possible complications.
Valuations take into account key facts about a home, including its condition, any problems like structural issues or other possible negative factors, age, size and location. These assessments are done by professionals and result in an estimated overall price value for your home. This valuation price is then often used as the starting point for attempting to attract buyers, depending on how you try to sell the home.
For many property sales in the UK, a valuation is a necessary step, as the Ideal Home website notes.
Typically, a qualified surveyor will be responsible for performing the valuation of a property, and they must be accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). They will produce a detailed report that offers an impartial assessment of your home’s worth.
Many buyers will then look to that valuation to guide whether they think your asking price is fair, or whether they think you’re overcharging compared to what the valuation says.
But as this guide will explain, there are still instances where a homeowner might not want to get a valuation for their property before attempting to sell it. And unfortunately if this is your situation, you might discover that there certain downsides associated with trying to sell this way.
The good news is that even though there may be a few complications involved with attempting to sell a property that does not have a valuation, finding a buyer is still possible. Indeed, there are some methods of selling – such as contacting LDN Properties or any other legitimate quick home buyer – that can result in getting a competitive offer and on a very speedy timeline.
Reasons why an owner may not want a valuation when selling a home
There are a handful of reasons for why a homeowner might not want to have a valuation in place when they’re attempting to sell their house, flat or other type of property.
Some people do not want to get a formal valuation from a chartered surveyor because they have concerns that the eventual price estimate for the property will be noted on a permanent record, and that this could affect the offers that buyers make any time in the future. These owners could feel that they’d rather gamble on getting a better price without a valuation.
And then there are homeowners who might be aware of some problem with their property that could reduce its perceived value if noted by a chartered surveyor on a formal valuation.
Potential negative factors that can reduce the assessed value of a home can cover a wide range of issues, including structural problems like subsidence or the fact that the property has old electrics or wiring, Owners may think that a valuation which identifies these factors might drive down the potential valuation and sale price of their property below their minimum selling price goal.
Whatever the reason for your lack of a valuation at your property, you have several options to still get a fair and speedy sale, including obtaining a valuation or selling to a quick buyer.
Buyers may be wary about purchasing a property lacking a valuation
When you are preparing to sell your house or flat, you could find that many buyers are wary about making an offer on your property because of the lack of a formal valuation.
That’s because many buyers will place great emphasis on the need for a qualified professional, as designated by the RICS, as they will be looking to this assessment to give them an impartial, honest review of the pros and cons of the property and how that affects its value – both for buying the home from you and for possibly reselling it in the future.
Buyers might be suspicious that you are attempting to hide a significant fault with the property by not having a formal valuation for it, and this can make them lose interest in the home.
Even if there is no major problem associated with your flat or house, and the main reason for not obtaining a valuation is that you are worried it may become a permanent record that negatively affects your property’s perceived value, buyers may not think this is satisfactory. The lack of a valuation will tend to create more concerns for them compared to fewer.
Unfortunately there are certain prospective buyers who will see the omission of a formal valuation as a dealbreaker, and they will never make an offer on your home.
But you could still find other buyers that won’t view the lack of a valuation as being a barrier to purchasing your house or flat. Quick home buyers, like LDN Properties, are one such example because they have plenty of history with making fast and fair offers for this type of property.
Can a buyer obtain a mortgage for a home without a valuation?
Whatever your reason for trying to sell your property without valuation, whether that’s due to a divorce a desire to move overseas, wanting to downside your home or any other scenario, you may discover that this complicates buyers’ ability to get a mortgage to purchase it.
Home loan providers will typically require that a buyer obtain an RICS-qualified valuation of your property before granting the mortgage to purchase your home. That’s because they want to ensure that the buyer is pairing a fair price and that the house or flat has been properly valued.
Lenders require a valuation because they may need to repossess the home and try to resell it to recoup the outstanding debt owned from the buyer, if they end up defaulting on the loan after purchasing your property. A mortgage company could worry that without a valuation they will be unable to know that they’ll have a chance to get their money back in this situation.
In the event that a private buyer is relying on getting approved for a mortgage to purchase your home, this will make the sale to them impossible. However you still have some other options for finding a buyer, even if your property continues to lack a proper valuation.
One such solution is contacting a quick home buying company like LDN Properties, because they have extensive history with making speedy and fair offers to purchase practically any type of home regardless of its age, condition, location shape, size or type – and that covers properties that don’t have a valuation, as detailed further in a later section of this guide.
Deciding to get a valuation before attempting to sell your house or flat
One question you’ll need to resolve ahead of selling is whether you want to get a valuation for your property before attempting to find a buyer for it, or to proceed without one.
But obtaining a valuation from an RICS-qualified surveyor could cost hundreds of pounds, as the website Property Price Advice explains. That’s not ideal if one of your main targets with selling your house or flat is keeping your overall expenses as low as feasible.
The valuation could also take a long time to schedule and complete, which would delay the selling process further. That’s not a good outcome for those homeowners who have identified selling their property as quickly as possible as being one of their top needs.
And, as outlined earlier in this guide, a valuation could identify one or several factors that the surveyor believes makes your property less valuable, whether that’s a boundary dispute, physical damage to the structure of the home, or anything other factor. That in turn could lead buyers to significantly reduce how much they’re willing to pay for purchasing your property.
You are not required to get such a valuation for your flat or house before attempting to sell it, and don’t be concerned that it will be impossible to find a buyer due to having no valuation.
That’s because you still have some choices available for how to sell your property, with one of the simplest solutions being to get in touch with LDN Properties or any other honest quick home buying company. As the next section explains, these businesses are experts are making rapid and competitive offers to purchase many types of homes, including those lacking a valuation.
Your choices to find a buyer for your property lacking a valuation
The four typical methods for selling almost any type of property are selling to a quick buyer like LDN Properties, selling at an auction, selling with an estate agent or selling without any help. You’ll need to choose from among these four options to sell your home without a valuation.
Clear advantages exist with some of the approaches, for example you should be able to complete the sale of your property within a few short weeks when using a quick buyer, and that includes the time it takes for you to receive the sale proceeds and exchange contracts. Other choices have notable drawbacks, like selling via an estate agent sometimes taking a full year.
You should write down your main aims with finding a buyer, including your goal selling price, your willingness, if any, to pay commission, and how long you can wait to sell. Then compare this information against the facts of the four selling methods outlined below, and this should assist you in identifying which of the options most closely matches your unique needs.
Some of the selling methods below may also be dependent on you opting to pursue a valuation for your property, for example when selling through an auctioneer or estate agent. But other options won’t require that you go through that time-consuming and potentially expenses process, for example quick buyers have experience buying homes lacking a valuation.
Selling your home to a quick buyer
A popular way to sell properties that don’t have a valuation is contacting a quick buyer like LDN Properties. These companies can finalise the purchase of most homes within weeks, and that covers the important steps of exchanging contracts and paying the seller their full proceeds.
These companies can move so speedily because they don’t need to wait for many weeks or months to get approved for a mortgage to buy your home. Instead, they have the funds available to immediately purchase the property, resulting in a very speedy sale.
Quick buyers also won’t mind that your property doesn’t have a valuation, because they make competitive and rapid offers to purchase homes no matter their age, condition, location, shape, size, type or other factors, including any structural defects or other problems it may have.
As well as buying homes that don’t have a valuation, LDN Properties has extensive experience with purchasing and making offers for flats without a management company, homes located near airports or under noisy flight paths, dilapidated properties in need of repair, flats with damp problems, flood damaged homes, properties with a short lease, hoarder’s houses, inherited homes, flats that have mortgage arrears, properties suffering from rot issues and many other scenarios.
You also won’t have to pay any fees when selling your home to a quick buyer, which ensures that you’ll get to keep the full sale proceeds. That compares well to selling through an auctioneer or estate agent where you’ll pay commission that will add to your costs.
Selling your home at an auction
Auctioneers do the majority of the tasks needed to sell your home, such as preparing a listing that features photographs of the inside and outside of the property and describes its main features, advertising this listing and hosting the auction where people can bid on your home.
But for doing all of this work, auctioneers will charge you commission, usually at about 2.5 percent of your property’s final sale price. This will increase your expenses because the fee will be deducted right away from the proceeds. You might be able to negotiate a lower commission or have the buyer pay some of your costs, so inquire about whether this is possible.
This isn’t the swiftest choice for selling a home because there are several long waiting periods involved, including many weeks or months between the day on which you decide to sell your home this way and the day on which the auction is held. If the property sells, the top bidder will have about 28 days to complete their various tasks needed to finalise the purchase.
Beware that some auctioneers might not be willing to sell your property with an RICS-approved valuation, and this would therefore prevent you from being able to sell using this method. Check with individual auctioneers to find out their position on selling homes without a formal valuation.
Selling your home with an estate agent
Estate agents take care of many of the vital actions for selling a home, from the initial creation and marketing of a listing through to scheduling viewings and fielding offers from buyers.
Typically, for doing all of this work an estate agent will require that you pay they commission, charged within a range of 1.15 percent to 1.40 percent of your home’s final sale price. This will raise your expenses because the fee is subtracted right away from the sale proceeds.
This can sometimes be one of the slowest approaches for selling a house or flat, and you should be prepared to wait several months or even more than an entire year before selling. And remember that a buyer could make a genuine offer but then withdraw it and cause the sale to collapse, and they can’t be penalised for this if contracts have not yet been exchanged.
Estate agents can perform their own valuations of your property if it is lacking one, so it might not necessarily be a total barrier to selling this way. But you could find some companies that are wary about trying to sell a home without an RICS-approved valuation, and if that happens then you might want to consider some other options for selling, like contacting a quick buyer.
Selling your home without any help
You’re not required to sell your property using the services of an auctioneer or estate agent, nor to sell to a quick buyer, and so you may be thinking about selling on your own.
But this can be a very stressful and lengthy approach, because as noted on the HomeOwners Alliance website, you will have to handle all of the work involved with finding a buyer. This includes creating and advertising a listing, organising viewings and hearing offers.
It can be a large amount of work that you won’t be able to only do in your free time, and therefore you should only seriously consider this method if you have a friend or family member skilled at selling homes who is offering to help you sell your property at no cost, or if you have this experience. If not, it could take more than a full year before you’re able to find a buyer.
And a buyer could also make a genuine offer but then change their mind and withdraw it, causing the sale to fall apart. If that happens, it will significantly increase the selling timeline because you’d have to begin again with searching for potential buyers. And the person that made the offer won’t be subject to any penalties if contracts are not yet exchanged.
Perhaps one of the only clear pros of selling on your own is that you can keep your expenses low because you will not have to pay any commission to an auctioneer or estate agent. But you could discover that this saving is cancelled out by the funds that you’ll need to spend on marketing your listing and the various other steps involved with selling your property.
An alternative could be getting in touch with a quick home buyer like LDN Properties, because these companies won’t charge you any commission and will give you the added bonus of completing the purchase of your property within a few short weeks. So you’d achieve your goal of avoiding fees whilst also getting a much swifter sale compared to selling on your own.
Top queries and answers about selling property without a valuation
If you are a homeowner thinking of selling quickly we can answer some of your questions, ranging from the steps needed before selling your home through to selling a home without a gas safety certificate. Here are some of the top questions we’re asked about selling property without a valuation:
Your top questions when selling property without a valuation
When someone is attempting to sell a freehold or leasehold residential, commercial or other type of property, they’ll often get a valuation. This is an assessment of the property’s worth based on a number of important factors, and if you are trying to sell a home without having a valuation in place then you might find that this creates some additional barriers.
Formal valuations are typically done by chartered surveyors who are accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. They will consider a wide range of factors associated with a home when assessing it for the purposes of a valuation, and these can include its location, the age of the building, the overall size of the property and number of other important issues.
There are some homeowners that could have concerns about a valuation creating a permanent record against which their property asking price will always be judged, and want to avoid getting one for this reason. Another explanation could be that there’s some type of problem with the home that would reduce its value, and a valuation could uncover whatever the issue might be.
You definitely have the option of getting a valuation for your property before you start looking for a buyer, and this would certainly eliminate the complications that can be associated with trying to sell a home without a valuation. But you should be aware that valuations can take quite a long time to schedule and they can easily cost several hundred pounds or more.
It’s unlikely, because almost all home loan providers will require that a prospective buyer obtain a valuation for the house or flat that they are looking to purchase, because the lender wants to make sure that the asking price is reasonable. A valuation can also alert mortgage providers to any problems with the property that could make them unwilling to approve the loan.
If you sell your home through an estate agent then the fee will usually be between 1.15 percent and 1.40 percent of the final property sale price, whilst auctioneers charge an average of 2.5 percent. But if you opt for selling your home without any third party help, or if you decide to sell to a no-commission quick buyer such as LDN Properties, then you won’t pay any fees.
The swiftest method for selling your property will usually be getting in contact with LDN Properties or another quick buyer, as the timeline should only be a handful of weeks, and this covers exchanging contracts and paying you the sale proceeds. Expect the other methods of selling on your own, at an auction or via an estate agent to take several months or more.
