What's Your Property Really Worth?

Here’s a few places to go to discover a property’s value.

Through a land agent.

Agents will give an estimate of what your home is worth. These are often not completely unbiased, however, as the agent will be hoping you might list your home for sale through their company.
Agents also have access to data produced by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ). This is a listing of all properties sold over the past five years.
Things to know about REINZ data;
► It can be sorted in various ways; by area, street, price, date of sale etc.
► The best way to view the data is to ask for a listing of properties near the one you are interested in, but within a specified date range.
► This data is usually free but also usually only supplied if you are selling or actively looking at a property via the REINZ member you consult.

The Council Website.

You can do a property search on the local Council’s website. Let’s say you are interested in a property in Hamilton. Type “Hamilton Property Valuations” into Google. You’ll be led to the rates and property valuation page of the Hamilton Council website. Here you can usually type in an address and uncover the property’s Capital Valuation (CV).
A few things to know about a CV from the Council website;
► It is not a full valuation, it is an estimate only.
► It does not include chattels and so will often be less than the expected market value.
► Make sure you take note of what date the assessment was made – if the market has shifted up or down since the CV assessment it may be slightly out of date, either one way or the other.
► But, the great thing is, it’s free!
► You will also discover some other interesting information about that property such as land size, land value, the annual rates charge, and legal descriptions relating to the property.

QV New Zealand.

Quotable Value New Zealand is a company that gathers and sells information on property. Through the QV website (www.qv.co.nz) you can search a property and request a valuation.
A few things to know about a QV valuation:
► It is an estimate of the market value of the property – that is how much it would be expected to sell for.
► It is based on recent sales of similar properties in the surrounding area.
► Banks call these ‘Desktop Valuations’ because they are obtainable over the internet. They will sometimes accept these as valuations when securing a mortgage, however, they need to be less than 30 days old.
► The QV reports are fairly comprehensive and will include details, including photos, of up to ten local properties that are similar to the one you are interested in.
► The cost is $40 per property searched.
► Through QV you can also organise for a full valuation on a property by a qualified valuer.

A full market valuation:

Property valuers are professionally qualified and registered, and will personally visit and carefully inspect any property being valued. They will produce a full report giving an estimate market value taking into account all aspects of the property and those surrounding.
A few things to know about full market valuations:
► Often banks will insist on a registered valuation at the time of a loan application to ensure the property is worth what the borrower is paying for it.
► A full market valuation by a registered valuer will cost about $450 for an average home. The cost will increase with home size and, sometimes, location or if there is something unique or different about the home.
► As with all purchases, it can pay to ask around regarding the price charged for a valuation.

If this article was of interest to you, you might want to check out Can I Afford an Investment Property? in the Resource Centre area of our website.