A valuation is a visit, not a number generated from a postcode. A member of the team comes to the property, looks at its condition, layout, aspect, parking and outside space, and notes the things that genuinely move price in your area — an extension that adds usable space, a converted loft with proper head height, a south-facing garden, or a lease with fewer years left than a buyer’s lender will accept.
The figure itself is built from comparable sold prices, not asking prices. What a neighbour is advertising for tells you very little; what actually completed, and how long it took to get there, tells you almost everything. We weigh that evidence against current buyer demand for your property type, because a three-bedroom family house and a one-bedroom flat in the same street can be moving at completely different speeds.
You receive the figure and the reasoning behind it, and there is no obligation to instruct us. If the number is lower than you hoped, we would rather tell you that at the outset than win the instruction on an optimistic price and spend three months reducing it — a property that launches too high loses its best window of interest and often sells for less in the end.
We value both residential and commercial property across England and Wales. For commercial premises the exercise is different again: yield, lease terms, covenant strength and EPC compliance drive the figure more than kerb appeal does.