Three agents will give you three numbers, and the highest is not the most accurate — it is usually the one most eager for the instruction. Ask each of them for the evidence rather than the figure, and the spread between them stops being mysterious.
selling
How to read an estate agent's valuation critically
Three agents will give you three numbers, and the highest is not the most accurate — it is usually the one most eager for the instruction.
- 2 min read
- Updated 21 September 2026
Part 1 of 4
How to do it
- Ask which specific sold properties the figure rests on, with addresses and dates. Vagueness here is the answer to your question.
- Check those comparables yourself against the public sold-price record. They are free to look up and take minutes.
- Ask how the property differs from each comparable — size, condition, extension, outlook — and how they adjusted for it.
- Ask what they would expect it to actually achieve, as distinct from what they would market it at. The gap between the two is the real information.
- Ask how long comparable properties took to sell. A high price with a six-month timeline may be worse for you than a realistic one that moves.
An appraisal from an agent typically sits at or above the top of an evidence-based range. That is a pitch, not a prediction — it is how instructions are won, and it is not dishonest as long as you read it as one.
The tell for a well-founded figure is that it comes with its working attached. If you are shown the sales, you can disagree with the adjustment; if you are shown only a number, you can only take it or leave it.
Part 2 of 4
Check it yourself, free
Instant house valuation — with the sales it rests on — no account, no email wall.
Part 3 of 4