Want to Know Why Your Real Estate Agent Devalued Your Property? Here's How to Find Out

When you decide that you want to sell your property and you ask a real estate agent to come and look at the house and land to give it an asking price, you might be in for a surprise. Some homeowners assume that their property is quite valuable, and are shocked when they hear how low a real estate agent values their properties.

If you have recently encountered a similar experience with a real estate agent's "devaluation" of your property, and you are wondering if you should get a second opinion from another agency/agent, you might want to try a different sort of route first. Here is how to find out why the agent valued your property lower than you expected. 

Hire a Property Condition Assessment Consultant

Property condition assessment consultants will come to your home, examine it from top to bottom, check out the landscaping and any outlying buildings or structures, look at the property from a curbside perspective, and then tell you what they think the property is worth. If it matches closely to what the real estate agent said, you can ask the consultant why he/she values the property so low. That is the difference between the consultant and the agent; the agent can explain in detail why your property is not worth as much as you thought.

The upshot is that for your dollars, the consultant can also tell you where you can make improvements to get the value of the property much closer to what you expected it to be. If you choose to make those improvements, then the real estate agent will probably reassess the home and property for a higher value. At that point, you can choose to put the property and home on the market, or keep it for a while longer to make more improvements. 

When the Consultant Says the Agent Is Wrong

If you hire a consultant, and the consultant assesses the property for more than what the real estate agent says it is worth, you know that you are not wasting your time turning to a second agent from another agency to get a second opinion. You can even ask the consultant to be present when you get that second opinion, as the consultant may be able to talk up the property with the agent to see if the agent sees the same positive things. Sometimes real estate agents miss something, and the consultant can point out those things to the agents.