‘Overvaluing is endemic in UK’: Property valuer relaunches business with charity campaign

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A Suffolk property valuer, who is rebooting her business with a charity fundraising campaign, says she is determined to mend the ‘dysfunctional relationship’ that exists between estate agents and the public.

Mandy Burrows has restarted Simply Valuation, which she set up in Lavenham back in 2019, after quietly placing the company on hiatus, due to family circumstances and the Covid-19 pandemic.

To mark the relaunch, the Acton resident is offering bespoke ‘for sale’ signs for prospective house sellers, branded with the slogan ‘Simply Valuation Gives To Charity’.

Mandy Burrows is running a charity campaign for the relaunch of her property valuation business, Simply Valuation.Picture: Mecha Morton

For each sign that is displayed, Mandy explained, a donation will be made to a Sudbury children’s charity.

“When I first started, it was going so well, and then Covid hit and I gave birth to my daughter two weeks after the first lockdown, so I quietly closed the doors on Simply Valuation,” she told the Free Press.

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“The time is right for me now to relaunch. I’ve got this campaign running and I’ve got for sale boards for anyone to display.

“It’s an opportunity to give something back to the community and also let them know I’m back up and running.”

Prior to moving to Suffolk, Mandy spent more than 15 years working in the estate agency sector in London.

Despite the disruption during the height of Covid, Mandy stated she felt that the housing market is still in a good place.

“There’s a slight drop in prices, but I personally believe the market is really strong,” she said.

“In Suffolk, there was a bit of an exodus from London, which put prices up to begin with.

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“I think the market remains quite robust and, if a house comes on to the market, it will sell.”

Mandy added that the original motivation behind setting up Simply Valuation remains the same – helping to bridge the gap in trust between sellers and estate agents.

Citing her experience in the industry, she argued that too many agents are not honest in their valuation of properties coming on to the market, to the detriment of the vendor.

“I created Simply Valuation to share my knowledge and help honest estate agents to be successful,” she said.

“I’ve got nearly 20 years in London under my belt, so I have a good grip on the market.

“Overvaluing has become endemic in the UK. I’m still of the opinion that there is a dysfunctional relationship between estate agents and the general public. I want to repair that broken marriage.

“Sadly, a large proportion of estate agents have been conditioned to believe that not overvaluing will not lead to new business, but overvaluing often leads to under-selling.

“They do it to win business but, generally, they want to lock the seller into a long contract, maybe six months.

“But, if they had confidence in their valuation, they wouldn’t need six months to sell it. It’s not to the benefit of the vendor and it upsets me.

“If they put the property on the market for the right price, it will sell. I feel I’m a bit more honest with house sellers.”

Anybody who would like to support Simply Valuation’s new charity initiative can contact Mandy for a display board, by emailing mandy@simplyvaluation.com.

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