Property valuation

[PatrickS]

Hi Nigel,

First of all congratulations with the website and the forum; it looks impressive!
We are considering selling our house in the next months and we were wondering if it would not make sense to first have a property valuation done by a reputable company and try to sell the property ourselves instead of having to include the big fees the estate agents seem to be asking. My question is whether you have a name of a company you would recommend (Limassol area) and what they should charge for this? Secondly, if we go the estate agent route, what are typically their fees? In terms of the title deeds, we are at the last hurdle; we paid last month for the transfer fees and were told it would take another 2 to 4 months before they would effectively be available for collection.

best regards.

[Nigel Howarth]

Hello Patrick,

Welcome, and thanks for your comments.

There is an Association of Valuers & Surveyors in Nicosia. If you contact them, they should be able to put you in touch with someone in Limassol. Their contact details are:

• PO Box 20724
  1663 Nicosia
  Tel: 22 751221/25 368757
  Contact name: Mr. Varnados Pashoulis
  Email: var@cytanet.com.cy

Alternatively, you could get in touch with a member of RICS. There are some in Limassol, including:

• Roussos & Angelides
  Leontiou A, Maximos Court
  Block A, 6th floor
  Tel: 25 738777
  Fax: 25 738770
  
  Lefkios Vassiliou & Co Certified Surveyors Ltd
  119 Arch Makarios III Avenue
  Tel: 25 338099
  Fax: 25 381905
  
  Antonis Loizou & Associates
  209, Arch. Makarios III Avenue
  (Nicosia office - Tel: 22 477 600)

I've used Antonis Loizou in the past to carry out a structural survey and a valuation on a small property in Limassol. That was about 3 years ago and I think they charged CYP 400 at the time. I don't know how much they charge these days. It might be worth phoning them all and getting quotations.

Estate agents here charge around 5% - and there is a list of the legally registered ones that you can get from my main website at http://www.cyprus-property-buyers.com/f ... agents.pdf

(The EU has apparently sent Cyprus an official request for information on its laws governing estate agents; it considers these may not be compatible with EU internal market laws). So the list may change in the near future!

It's great you will have the Title Deeds, this will make your property much more saleable. However, there is at least a years supply of property on the market at the moment, so you may have to wait a bit to find a buyer.

You also need to bear in mind that what a property is valued at and what someone is prepared to pay are two different things - but having the full Title Deeds will help in this respect.

Best regards,