What is it like to work as a Valuer in Australia

I have been offered a job as a Valuer in Mildura Australia. I am currently a Valuer based in the uk and have little idea of what to expect in terms of pay and the nature of the work involved e.g. I guess the will be a lot of driving involved.
I would be grateful for any tips in terms of what to look for and what pitfalls to avoid. Many thanks.
 
It is pretty hectic actually. Not sure about how it is in Mildura but certainly the metro valuers are under lots of time pressure to churn out as many reports as possible.
 
Oh where do I start....

Everyone wants things done yesterday.

There is an intermediary called Valex which has the industry by the balls. Your firms/office flow of work depends on your turnaround time and compliance knockbacks. - I had a report knocked back for one letter typed wrong in a report. You basically are expected to get the report back to them within 24hrs, no matter how difficult the job is (I ignore this one in this case). Some require kerbsides to be done within 24 hours of the job being ordered. This is difficult when the order arrives at 5pm, your day the next day is fully booked and no one lets you know about this job.

If you forget a photo (you need at least 5) all hell breaks loose.

To earn reasonable money in Resi, you need to churn out 6 vals per day. You are essentially paid a percentage of your fee write. Your base salary is low in case it is a slow month/quarter so your bonus is high which can make borrowing difficult.

Fees are now the same in dollar terms than they were 10 years ago. You do a lot more of the work on reports than you used to do in the old tick and flick days.

Everyone thinks you are useless, because you do not value the property at what they think it is worth.

People/clients ask stupid questions and get upset when you reply and tell them they are a moron.

The plus side is working from home, tax deductability of your car, security of job if you are half way decent as you cannot get good valuers for love nor money. Your day is flexible but sometimes usually hectic.

If you take the job, good luck and welcome to hell.

cheers

RightValue
 
I feel for you guys I really do. I bet you have thought of all banding together and demanding a higher fee from the banks? Would bring a smile to my face it really would. $250 -$300 versus what the commercial guys get is so out of whack.

The banks need to absord the cost.
 
$250-$300 is retail price...i would how much the bank really pays the valuers...

Feel sorry for you guys, if the price is to low- client and broker is not happy...price to high - bank or lmi might not be happy...you die if you do and you die if you dont lol
 
People/clients ask stupid questions and get upset when you reply and tell them they are a moron.

Obviously a difficult job - no arguing that.

But - in any business - not sure about calling your clients a moron, and surely the clients questions are not always stupid (maybe it just seems that they are stupid questions, as you have heard them many times before)?
 
Obviously a difficult job - no arguing that.

But - in any business - not sure about calling your clients a moron, and surely the clients questions are not always stupid (maybe it just seems that they are stupid questions, as you have heard them many times before)?


You really have not dealt with many of the employees of the banks that is for sure.

That they have jobs is proof positive that Australia was at full employment.

Valex do a good job in this respect as an intermediary.

My favourite question is ....

Bank: "why did you only value it at $x"
Me: why do you think I may have valued it as $x?

Bank: .. umm, I don't know
Me: Do you think it may be because that is what I think it is worth?

Bank: oh (pause) but the client thinks it is worth $y
Me: have you read the sales evidence and the comments?

Bank: Yes but the client thinks it is worth $y
Me: Well then why don't you just accept their figure and ignore mine?

Bank: But I have to use your figure
Me: Why do you think the bank insists on that rather than using the owners figure?

Bank: But I need a higher figure to make the deal work

At this point I tell them I am not changing the figure, there is a dispute mechanism and ask them to please stop wasting my time.

I have been asked nicely by my firm not to call them morons as the clients do get upset and being a sensitive soul I now agree to this as I do take pity on the less fortunate.
 
I find that the younger valuers are the ones who cause the most (under)valuations. I do accept that in this current climate in Victoria that valuations are tough across the board.
 
It may be a bit tougher now, with blowback from lower than expected valuations and banks wanting more detail, but in the good old days, being a valuer was the easiest job in the world.

Turn up,, tick a few boxes, 200 bucks thanks.

So it's a bit tougher now? Welcome to the real world.
 
I sold a house recently where the valuation came in about $30k under the contract price. The broker challenged it on behalf of the purchaser with supporting evidence of 4 recent sales all showing around the contract price.

Valuer came back saying we used those 4 comparative sales already but don't believe them to be worth what they sold for either :confused:
 
I sold a house recently where the valuation came in about $30k under the contract price. The broker challenged it on behalf of the purchaser with supporting evidence of 4 recent sales all showing around the contract price.

Valuer came back saying we used those 4 comparative sales already but don't believe them to be worth what they sold for either :confused:

ouch,

I feel for you.

If it was just one sale that was out of line with all the other evidence I would ignore it. But 4 well that is enough, when added to your purchase (5 sales in total).

Valuers do not make markets, they analyse and interpret them. A valuer must have a defensible basis for their valuation figure and 4 supporting sales added to the contract at hand is pretty much suitable evidence, provided they are truly comparable.

In situations like this I usually let it go through but risk rate it enough so that my liability is reduced and so long as you are not borrowing over 80% you should be fine.

What you have described is what happens when markets jump or turn around after a fall like the one we have experienced for the last 2 years (in Melbourne at least).

I would just go to another lender, chances are 95% that it will go through fine on the next valuation.

That said I often get people provide "comparable" evidence around the contract price but ignoring important factors like the 100sqm difference in land value where the land is worth $1,000/m2, or the fact that the comparable house is 5 squares larger or renovated compared to the subject.

What you highlight is the reason why in the last 5 years since I rejoined the firm we have employed many new valuers, however only one (except the two we trained as cadets) has not been let go within 6 months due to competency issues. Basically we have given up advertising for valuers as good ones are treated well and have no real reason to leave their existing firm, especially as there is little difference between employers.

And as Aaron points out our younger valuers sometimes struggle in situations like this, purely due to lack of experience. In which case they would not only discuss the valuation figure with the Manager, the manager would ask the advice of a Senior Valuer familiar with that area. Aside from the two younger ones, no one else has less than 12 years experience and most have been valuing their patches for over 10 years. If one of the experienced valuers wants to can a contract, well there is no issue nor review process, but the younger ones, as I said they get closely reviewed.
 
ouch,


Valuers do not make markets, the analyse and interpret them. A valuer must have a defensible basis for their valuation figure and 4 supporting sales added to the contract at had is pretty much suitable evidence, provided they are truly comparable.

.

Agree with most of what you say but have seen way too much evidence that this in not true, valuers analyse, interpret and predict the market, in a changing market place (up or down) their predictions 100% make the market
 
Valuers do not make markets, they analyse and interpret them. A valuer must have a defensible basis for their valuation figure and 4 supporting sales added to the contract at hand is pretty much suitable evidence, provided they are truly comparable.

I agree with you here and asked the same question to the valuer as I contacted them direct after hearing the value. I was told nothing personal, that's just what we believe the property to be worth, and we were the company that valued 3 of the other properties.

2 of the properties which were used had a smaller land size and a higher price.

As it was, the buyer was only borrowing 80% and the broker ended up using past rental history as savings to get it across the line.

I think the problem we are seeing is that the banks now outsource to valuation companies and are not all doing their owns valuations, so if you went with another lender and that lender uses the same valuation company, they would obviously have to put down the same value + also if it had have gone back to the market and sold again to someone obtaining finance, the likelihood of getting the same valuation company again, I see this as a problem.
 
Agree with most of what you say but have seen way too much evidence that this in not true, valuers analyse, interpret and predict the market, in a changing market place (up or down) their predictions 100% make the market

I concur BigTone - I personally have seen valuers predicting market movement and valuing down accordingly.
 
I sold a house recently where the valuation came in about $30k under the contract price. The broker challenged it on behalf of the purchaser with supporting evidence of 4 recent sales all showing around the contract price.

Valuer came back saying we used those 4 comparative sales already but don't believe them to be worth what they sold for either :confused:

Its normal

And its not easy to challenge vals even with cookie cutter properties there will be something thats different and inferior.

Where I lose it, is where a valuer should simply step away and not even have a go if they dont have the time to do the homework.

The most common silly one at the moment in NSW is grannies

We either get comps to slightly larger houses, multi unit dwellings, or non approved grannies.

In most cases I can find the comps using ACTUAL approved comparable grannies just from my own finance work for clients, but even there its patently clear from the "how dare you challenge the evidence" glib responses that commercial considerations have made it harder and harder on valuers

Rather them than me thats for sure

ta
rolf
 
"how dare you challenge the evidence" glib responses that commercial considerations have made it harder and harder on valuers

Thats what I dont like either. I spend half a day finding comparables, let the valuer know politley why I think they may have erred and that I rarely "challenge" valuations. Yet I still get a filthly email spray with comments like "we note the broker is not trained in compartive sales analysis" or some such thinly vieled "f*** you ahole" response, that takes them 1 minutes to fire back.
 
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