Thought it wasn’t possible to find out how much your property is worth without having to fork out money? Thanks to the web, there are a number of completely free online tools at your disposal that can be used to estimate the price of a house, whether you are buying, selling, or simply browsing. Octagon Capital has put together the very best tools out there as well as providing expert tips regarding property valuations.
See what previous buyers got for their cash
It can often be difficult to see online exactly what a buyer got for their money (with the majority of sold-house sites, it will simply state the price and whether it was an apartment or house) with many property websites also tending not to state if the sale price was the same as the asking price.
However, there are ways around this to help you see if the previous buyer ended up overpaying or manage to get a discount. For example, Zoopla has a sold prices section that enables you to search a location and then see archived records for a property, detailing the price listings over a number of tears.
Check house price indexes
One of the best ways to identify the value of a property for free is by checking house price indexes online, which allow you to track housing trends both locally and nationally. There are a number of ways you can check:
- The Land Registry’s House Price Index provides data on sales of almost all residences across England and Wales. It also breaks down house prices by country and region, as well as the type of property
- If you are looking at houses in Scotland you can look at data from Registers of Scotland. This provides information on house prices according to the district, as well as monthly average prices and sales volumes. As with the Land Registry, there is usually a time lag of about a month or so
- There is also the option of looking at Nationwide’s House Price Index, where it breaks down the national and regional house valuation data
Get an estimated valuation on your home
There are a number of free property valuation tools available online, one of these includes Mouseprice.com, all you need to do is give your postcode as well as the number of bedrooms in your property.
Keep an eye on house prices on the go
Check out one of the free property apps available that allow you to monitor house prices on the go. The Rightmove app uses GPS technology to identify houses or flats for sale near you, wherever your location may be at the time.
Check for air pollution and flood risks
There are free sites available to show you if a property that you are considering buying is potentially susceptible to flooding, which could end up saving you a considerable amount of money in the long run. It may not be something you will be immediately thinking of when deciding to buy a house, but you should remember that if a house has a high risk of flooding this will also then impact upon the property’s value as well as insurance premium.
For properties in England and Wales, look at the Environment Agency, and to check the flood risk of houses in Scotland, contact the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Both these agencies will have detailed reports about whether an area is considered low, moderate or at significant risk of flooding. They will also be able to check for air quality, as well as other potential pollution issues.
Look at crime rates
Crime rates in an area will not only impact the price of a property but also have an effect on your insurance premiums. This is why it is well worth taking the time to look at the police. uk crime mapping website, which allows you to look at all recorded crimes in England and Wales by street.
Check for subsidence risks
You could end up saving a lot of money by simply conducting a quick search on the website Homecheck. This site collates data from a number of different resources, including the British Geological Survey, and helps to analyse the risk of subsidence and other environmental problems in any area of the UK. All you need to do is type in a postcode, and it will do the hard work for you.
Get a ballpark valuation
Use free online tools from a number of sites in order to get a rough indication of what your home is valued at. One of the most popularly used sites is Zoopla, with this site all you need to do is pop in your postcode and then they will provide you with an estimate for sale prices for the location.
You can also get a bespoke valuation, by selecting a house on a street using market data and old sales prices. It is also possible to predict rental income, as well as then compare it to the location’s average.
Sign up for house price alerts
Another way to keep an eye on housing trends is to sign up for free monthly email alerts. This enables you to keep a track of any fluctuations of property prices, without having to put much effort in to do so. Signing up with Mouseprice means that you can get alerts about if a seller has reduced their property prices in your chosen area, as well as all house price info.
Look at the council tax band
It is very easy to be able to check your council tax bands in England and Scotland, and you may be able to make a considerable amount of savings by challenging the council tax band, meaning you can then get a rebate potentially worth thousands.
