Valuing your house yourself or hiring a professional: which should you choose?

Should you value your house yourself or hire a professional? Many Belgian homeowners start with an online tool, then hesitate before inviting an agent into their home. The two approaches answer different needs. One gives you a rough order of magnitude in ten minutes. The other gives you a price you will be able to defend in front of a buyer, their banker and the notary. Here is how to choose.

What a do-it-yourself valuation gives you

You can get quite far on your own. The median prices per municipality published by Statbel place you within your market. Property portals show you what homes comparable to yours are asking today. A calculation of the price per square metre of living space gives you a first range.

This research has real value. It stops you arriving at your first agent visit without any reference point and it lets you ask the right questions. Our free online valuation fills exactly that role: you get an indicative range within a few minutes, without an appointment and without any commitment.

Where it gets complicated is the moment you turn that range into a precise asking price. A difference of 15,000 euros within the same neighbourhood can come from the orientation of a garden, a PEB rating, a renewed roof or noise nuisance. Those elements cannot be read off a table of average prices.

The five points where a self-made valuation goes wrong

The same mistakes repeat from one file to the next. They cost either months of delay or several thousand euros.

• Confusing the asking price with the price paid. Listings show expectations, not completed transactions. The gap between the two widens as soon as the market slows down.
• Underestimating the weight of the PEB. In Wallonia as in Flanders, a poor energy rating puts candidates off and weighs directly on the negotiated price.
• Ignoring the technical condition. Non-compliant electrics, a fuel oil tank, single-glazed window frames: these are items the buyer will cost up on your behalf, almost always on the high side.
• Forgetting the planning framework. A planning infringement, an easement or a missing permit can block a sale well after the compromis has been signed.
• Emotional bias. You know the value of your works and of your memories. The buyer, for their part, coldly compares your house with three others visited the same Saturday.

A property listed too high rarely sells for more. It stays online, loses its novelty, and then gets negotiated below its real value once buyers see it has been hanging around for months.

What a licensed estate agent adds

An IPI-licensed estate agent does not settle for a calculation. They travel out, measure, observe the real condition of the building and take account of what candidate buyers in your municipality are willing to pay right now.

They also have access to the prices actually signed in the neighbourhood, not only the prices displayed on the portals. That difference explains most of the gap between an automated valuation and an on-site valuation.

Finally, they put their reputation and their professional liability behind the figure they put forward. An agent who inflates their valuation to win the mandate ends up three months later asking you for a price reduction. That is precisely why it is better to compare several agents rather than relying on the first one you contact.

What each option costs in Belgium

Cost is often the point that makes sellers hesitate. In practice, it is lower than most of them imagine.

• Online valuation: free, immediate, indicative.
• Valuation by an estate agent: generally free and with no obligation to entrust the sale to them. The agent offers it because they hope to obtain your mandate.
• Expert appraisal by a notary or an expert: paid, often a few hundred euros, with a written report. That document mainly serves for an inheritance, a divorce or a gift, less for setting a listing price.

The financial argument therefore does not hold: for a standard sale, bringing in a professional costs you nothing. What it does ask of you is an hour of your time per agent.

Still, keep one point of attention in mind. A free valuation remains a commercial act. It is no less reliable for that, provided you do not confuse it with an independent expert appraisal and that you set it against the valuation of one or two of their peers.

The best approach combines the two

Setting the two methods against each other does not make much sense. They complement each other, in a precise order.

Start with your own research, so that you arrive informed. Then have your property valued by two or three agents active in your municipality. Compare their figures, but above all their arguments: which recent sales are they relying on, how long do they think it will take to sell, what negotiating margin do they build into the asking price.

A difference of 5 to 10% between two serious valuations is normal. A clearly wider gap deserves an explanation. Very often, the agent with the highest figure is the one trying to get your signature, not the one who knows your neighbourhood best.

That is the logic behind ImmoMakelaarVergelijker.be: you receive up to three local agents to compare, free of charge and without commitment, and you keep control over the final choice.

Frequently asked questions

Is an online valuation reliable for setting my asking price?

An online valuation gives a correct range for a standard property located in a neighbourhood where a lot of sales have taken place. It sees neither the interior condition, nor the PEB rating, nor the technical defects. Use it as a starting point, not as an asking price.

How much does a valuation by an estate agent cost in Belgium?

In the vast majority of cases, a valuation by an IPI-licensed estate agent is free and does not oblige you to entrust the sale to them. A written expert appraisal carried out by a notary or an expert is, by contrast, paid, often a few hundred euros.

Should you have your house valued by several agents?

Yes. Two or three valuations give you a realistic range and let you spot the inflated figure meant to win the mandate. Also compare the announced selling time, the commission asked and the marketing plan proposed.

The notary or the estate agent: who values a house best?

The notary is the right person to speak to when you need a written value that can be relied on, for example for an inheritance or a divorce. To set a listing price and hold it against the market, the estate agent active in your municipality is better placed.

Setting the right price from day one

Valuing your house yourself teaches you to read your market. Going through a professional gives you the price you will be able to hold in front of buyers. The sellers who get the best result do both, in that order, and then put a few agents in competition before signing a mandate. The first three weeks of a listing are when you attract the most candidates. Better to arrive with the right figure.