Three agents stand in your hallway over a fortnight and give you three different numbers. The highest one feels the best — naturally. But the valuation that flatters you most is, more often than not, the one that costs you most. Here’s what a valuation actually is, how a good one is reached, and how to read those three figures honestly.
Start with what a valuation is not. It isn’t a fixed, provable fact about your home, and it isn’t a reward the agent hands you for choosing them. It’s an informed estimate of what a willing buyer — or tenant — will pay for your specific home, in this specific market, right now. The market has the final say. The agent’s job is to predict it as accurately as honesty allows, and then to prove the prediction with marketing.
How a proper valuation is reached
A valuation you can trust is built from evidence, in roughly this order:
- Comparable sold prices.What have genuinely similar homes — same type, similar size, similar street — actually sold for? Sold prices, from the Land Registry, not the asking prices on the portals. Asking prices tell you what sellers hoped for; sold prices tell you what buyers did.
- This home’s own character.Condition, light, the garden, the parking, the aspect, the work it needs or doesn’t. Two houses on the same road can be £100,000 apart for reasons a spreadsheet never sees.
- Live demand.Who is actually looking right now, at what budget, for what kind of home — the buyers and tenants an active agent is already speaking to every week.
Anchor all of that to official data and you have a defensible figure. As a guide to the lie of the land, the average home across Tunbridge Wells sits at around £450,000, with the average detached house nearer £854,000 — but those are averages across thousands of very different homes. Your valuation is the point where the general evidence meets your particular house. We set out the wider numbers, with sources, in our West Kent Market Report.
The overvaluing trap
Here is the uncomfortable open secret of the industry: an agent can win your instruction simply by saying the highest number. It costs them nothing to say it, and it feels wonderful to hear. The trouble comes afterwards.
An over-priced home does its worst work in the first three weeks — the very period when it’s newest, most emailed-out and most viewed. Priced above the evidence, it greets that peak audience and underwhelms them; the serious buyers who know the market simply move on. Weeks pass. The listing goes stale. Then comes the price reduction — which every watching buyer reads as a signal of weakness, an invitation to offer low. The home that was “worth” the headline figure now sells for less than a correctly priced launch would have achieved, months later, after far more stress.
How to read three different valuations
When you’ve had three agents round, don’t reach for the highest or split the difference. Do this instead:
- Ask each one to show their working.A good agent will happily walk you through three or four comparable sold homes and explain where yours sits among them. An agent who can’t — or won’t — is quoting a feeling, not a figure.
- Treat the outlier with suspicion.If two figures cluster and one sits far above, the high one usually isn’t insight; it’s bait. Ask that agent, specifically, which sold home justifies it.
- Judge the person, not just the price.You’re not hiring a number. You’re hiring the negotiator who will defend your price when an offer comes in. Honesty in the valuation is the first evidence of how they’ll handle the sale.
What an honest valuation looks like
A valuation done properly should leave you better informed, not just flattered. You should come away knowing the figure, the evidence behind it, the realistic range, and what — if anything — would lift the result. Whether you’re selling or letting, that clarity is worth far more than a big number on a doorstep.
Book a valuation with usand we’ll give you exactly that, with the comparable homes set out in full. If you’re still weighing up the decision itself, read should I sell or let or our guide to choosing an agent.
Frequently asked
Quick answers.
How do estate agents value a house?
A good valuation is built from evidence, not instinct. We look at what genuinely comparable homes have actually sold for — sold prices from the Land Registry, not optimistic asking prices — then adjust for this specific home's condition, position and character, and weigh it against current demand from buyers we're already talking to. The number is a considered read on what a willing buyer will pay today, set out with the evidence behind it.
Why do some agents give a higher valuation than others?
Sometimes it reflects a genuine difference of judgement on a hard-to-place home. Too often, though, the highest figure is there to win your instruction rather than to sell your house. An agent who quotes a number well above the evidence is buying your signature — and you pay for it later, when the over-priced home sits, goes stale and has to be reduced.
Should I choose the agent who gives the highest valuation?
Be very wary of it. The agent doesn't set the price — the market does. The home that launches at the right figure draws the most interest in its first two or three weeks, when it's freshest, and that competition is what achieves the best price. The over-valued home usually ends up selling for less than a correctly priced launch would have made, just slower and with more stress. Ask each agent to justify their number with comparable sold evidence, and trust the evidence over the flattery.
Is a marketing valuation the same as what my home will sell for?
It's an expert estimate, confirmed or corrected by the market once the home is launched. It's also different from a formal valuation: the free appraisal an agent gives to price your home for sale or let is not the same as a RICS surveyor's valuation for a mortgage, probate or tax. If you need a certified figure for one of those, you need a chartered surveyor; for deciding how to bring your home to market, you need an agent who knows the local evidence.
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