How to get your house valued for free

Perhaps you’ve lived in your home for a long time and have no idea how much its value has increased. Maybe you’d like to know how the effects of the pandemic on the housing market have affected the value of your home. Or perhaps you’re considering selling up but don’t really know how much you could gain from selling or how much to market your property at.

The good news is that with a bit of detective work, it’s possible to get a good idea of your home's worth for free.

Invite an estate agent to value it for you

This might not be the best place to start these days. But the most traditional way to get your home valued is to have an estate agent come and value it for you. If you’re selling your home, they’re usually happy to do this free of charge. 

It’ll be a no-obligation valuation. But, if you’re actually planning to sell, you might feel dishonest inviting an agent round. You’d have to do so under the pretence that you’re considering putting your home on the market. You could be left feeling pressured to get it on the market, and you can expect plenty of follow-up calls from the agency. They’ll be keen for you to list it with them.

Plus, with the pandemic ongoing, many people still aren’t ready to invite someone into their home.

Use an online estate agent

Some online estate agents offer a free valuation service. These vary and most will want to send a professional local agent round to your house to value it in person.

You can also use an online estate agent to sell your house. Their fixed fees can work out much cheaper than traditional estate agents' charges. However, you could be responsible for doing a lot of the ‘leg work’ and negotiations yourself. 

And, again, this might not be the best place to start. In this day and age, there’s a lot of research you can do online initially.

Get an online valuation

As well as online estate agents, some other websites can give you an approximate valuation. They aren’t as reliable as professional valuations, but they can still give you a general idea of how much you could sell your home for. You may still like to get a proper valuation done later, but this can be a very good starting point and can get you a ‘ballpark’ figure.

All you’ll have to do to get a valuation like this is share a few details. These could include:

• your address and postcode 

• how much you bought your home for

• the number of rooms in your home

• when you bought it

• the age of your home

• your email address.

A figure will then be quoted to you as a rough guide to how much your home is worth now. You’ll also get detailed information about the area and the amount homes that are sold for. 

These online valuations are based on vast amounts of data. For example: how much houses have been selling for in your area, the current market, and the size of your house.

Here are some examples of where you could get an online valuation:

• Mouse Price

• Property Price Advice

• Zoopla.

Remember that these valuations can be very broad. Some of these sites let you enter extra information about your property to make the valuation as accurate as possible.

How accurate are free valuations?

Free online valuations aren’t likely to give you a 100% accurate quote on your property's value. But they can at least give you an idea of what you can expect to sell your home for. This can be useful, especially if you’re only just starting to consider whether moving is right for you.

If you want to market your home without having a professional valuation, then gathering information from a range of sources could help. This method can be a useful tool in deciding on a realistic asking price.

A free valuation will also give you some background knowledge of the prices in your area. That way, that if you do end up using an estate agent, you’ll already be well-informed when you discuss your home's value with them. 

Even if you do have professional agents valuing your home, you’d be wise to get several valuations. You’d be surprised at how much they might vary and you’ll still have to make a call as to which valuation is best to go with. If you want a quick sale, you’ll be better pricing it low but, if getting the most money possible is important for you, then you could price it higher. 

How to sell your house without an estate agent.

Look up asking prices in your area

There are several websites that allow you to find out the price of homes anywhere in the UK. The information is often available free of charge.

One of the most popular sites to try is Zoopla and it’s incredibly easy to use. Simply select the UK region of your choice by typing in your postcode, and it’ll bring up the rough asking price of homes on sale in your area.

The following websites can give you an idea of how much homes are being marketed for in your area:

• Rightmove

• Net House Prices

• Zoopla

• OnTheMarket

Look at sold prices in your area

You can use the websites above to look at the average price that homes near you have sold for, too. The Land Registry is another good place to get this information, although you may need to pay to access some of this.

Bear in mind that if a house has sold very recently, it’ll usually take a few months before the information is updated.

Is it a good idea to value my home in this way?

By investigating the price of homes in your area using the tips above, you’ll be able to get a good idea of how much your own home might be worth. This can be especially useful if you’re a first-time seller and have no idea what kind of price you should ask for. It can also be helpful if you’ve lived in your house for such a long time that the price you paid for it will now be very different to what it’s worth.

The suggested websites have the added benefit of being mostly free and easy to use. This can be preferable to dealing with a load of estate agents. Plus you’ll escape the hassle of booking in-person appointments and then fielding sales calls from agents keen to be chosen to list your home. Instead, you can assemble information quickly and conveniently from your own desk.