What does a free valuation mean?

A free home valuation costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. The visit leaves you with no invoice, no hidden fees and no commitment. You sign nothing and enter into no agreement while the estate agent is standing in your living room.

In practice, the estate agent typically spends 1 – 2 hours on the visit and the calculation, split between preparation, the visit itself and written feedback afterwards. The agent pays for those hours. The motive is simple: the visit is the industry’s most important sales meeting, which makes it an investment the agent is happy to make. The valuation itself is genuinely free and without obligation. This applies across the board: all the big estate agency chains and most independent agents offer it free of charge.

You are only bound if you later sign a separate agency agreement (formidlingsaftale). Until then you are free: you can say no, think it over or get another valuation without it costing you a single krone.

What is included in a free estate agent valuation of your home?

The estate agent starts by walking through your home, asking about its condition and the renovations you have carried out, and then looks at what comparable homes in the area have sold for. That walk-through is what gives the figure its value, because it is based on your home as it actually stands, not on an average for the street.

The calculation itself rests on three pillars:

• The estate agent finds comparable sales and adjusts for the differences between your home and the ones that have been sold.

• A physical inspection is carried out, so that condition, materials and details are assessed on site.

• Current demand in the area is factored in, because the price depends on who is actually buying right now.

The estate agent works from actual sales of comparable homes over the last 6 – 12 months, and that is the period to keep an eye on if you want to check the figures yourself.

Soft factors are taken into account too. Natural light, layout, quality of materials, state of repair and noise can together account for 10 – 15 % of the sale price. They are often what explains why two otherwise identical homes on the same street do not sell for the same price.

Get the valuation in writing. A written valuation with reasons and examples of homes that have sold is something you can compare with others and hold the estate agent to later. A figure mentioned across the kitchen table is not something you can hold anyone to once the visit is over.

What is not included for free – and when does a home valuation cost money?

The free part covers the estate agent’s visit, the walk-through of the home and the valuation itself with the written feedback. That is where the line is drawn. Everything that belongs to an actual sale falls outside it.

There are also situations where a valuation is not about selling but about getting a figure that can stand on its own. In those situations, a free home valuation is not the right tool, and you should expect to pay:

• In a divorce, when the joint assets have to be divided and both parties need a figure they can work with.

• When settling the estate of someone who has died, where the heirs need an impartial assessment of what the home is worth.

• In a transfer within the family, where the home changes hands between relatives and the price has to be documented.

• When a bank or a public authority needs a figure that can stand on its own, for example in connection with a loan or the handling of a case.

The difference lies in who the figure is for. A free valuation is the estate agent’s estimate of what the home can be sold for, and it is intended to start a sales process. A paid valuation is a documented calculation that a third party can rely on, regardless of whether you choose to sell.

Nor is the sale itself part of the package. The reports that must be ready when the home goes on the market are the condition report (tilstandsrapport), the electrical installation report (elinstallationsrapport) and the energy label. They are not produced as part of the free valuation, and they cost money when you order them. The same applies to carrying out the sale in practice.

A free home valuation costs nothing as long as you do not sign anything. You are only bound once you sign an agency agreement, and that is a separate document. The agreement is not entered into as part of the valuation itself.

Read the agency agreement carefully when you get to that stage. One point is particularly important to look for: whether outlays have to be paid even if the home is not sold. The answer is often yes, even in agreements marketed as free if there is no sale. That is the kind of detail that decides whether “free” really is free in practice if the sale drags on or falls through altogether.

Official property valuation vs. estate agent valuation: two different figures

There are three figures that can all be called a valuation of your home, and they answer three different questions. It is worth weighing them against each other before you settle on what your home is worth.

The official property valuation is a basis for taxation, not a sale price. It is produced as a mass calculation across many thousands of homes, and the aim is to hit 80 % of the market value, because the figure is used to calculate property value tax and land tax. So do not read it as an estimate of what your home could sell for.

When you need the market value, an estate agent’s valuation is what you should get. It is based on someone having stood in your home and seen its condition, materials and details, and it is checked against actual sales in the area. An online calculator can give you a rough price range in a couple of minutes, but it has never seen your home. That is why it is the agent’s walk-through that tells you where in that range your home actually sits.

How to read the valuation critically and get a free valuation that is genuinely useful

If you want to get something out of a free valuation, question the figure rather than just noting it down.

• Ask for the actual sales the figure is based on, and check whether the comparable homes resemble your own. Three homes sold in the last six months say far more than three that have merely been put up for sale.

• Book two or three independent valuations within the same week, so the market is the same throughout. Don’t mention the figure you are hoping for up front. It sets the anchor for what the agent comes back with.

• Ask for a written sales budget you can take home, so you can compare the figures at your leisure. Don’t sign on the same day, as an agency agreement typically ties you in for six months.

• Ask what it would take to land at the upper end of the valuation, and what the plan is if the home has not sold after two months.

Why a free, no-obligation valuation is the right first step

You don’t have to be planning to sell to book a valuation. A free, no-obligation valuation makes sense if you are remortgaging, going through a divorce or dealing with an inheritance, or simply because you are curious about what your home is worth.

What you leave the visit with is a figure with the reasoning behind it. A written valuation is something you can hold up against other figures and use in your decision, whether you want to sell, borrow or simply know what your home is worth. It is worth keeping in mind what question the figure actually answers: the agent’s valuation tells you what the home can sell for within 3 – 6 months, while the sale price is what one buyer paid on one day. They are two different things, and it is the first one you can plan around.

At Brikk you can book a free, no-obligation valuation and get a concrete, written assessment of what your home is worth.