House undervalued by mortgage lender, thinking about walking away

[deipnein]

Hey everyone I’m after some advice. Me and my partner are quite far into the house buying process (house is in Wales we currently live in England) and have had a devaluation of £15000 by our mortgage lender and we don’t have the money to make up the shortfall. The vender is willing to drop the price £5000 (which is still too much for us but if he drops it by around £5000 more we might be able to make up the shortfall with family help). We're already buying with only a 5% deposit also.

Here’s the catch:

• the house is gorgeous and in a lovely rural location (which we like) but doesn’t seem to be a super hot market because of it.
• it’s a minimum 45 min drive from my work (longer for my partner but she’s really in love with the house and location and willing to travel) and 15 min drive from the nearest city/direct train link. It’s likely we’d need to buy a second car as all our friends (no family in the uk) are in the city we work in (45 min drive)
• we’re not sure how long we’d stay there but likely 5 or so years (I don’t think it’s our forever home but we could see ourselves there for a bit)
• the house is grade 2 listed so something to bear in mind
• we’ve tried a second lender who’s rejected our application because I don’t have indefinite leave to remain (I’m eligible to apply in jun/jul this year)

Our options are:

• go for the third best lender and hope they accept our application and give a valuation closer to what we offered and cop a worse deal
• dispute the first lenders valuation (which rarely works)
• try and argue the seller down even more.

Part of me is thinking its better to walk away given all the problems and the location/potential resale difficulty and the fact it’s not our forever home but I know my partner absolutely loves the house and location and it would be devastating to my partner if we walked away.

Just looking for any advice.tia

They have done you a favour, the house clearly isn't worth the amount the vendors want for it, I'd be renegotiating it to be 15000 less or waking away.

You need to renegotiate with the sellers. This is happening more and more.

It happened to me when I bought my favourite house at the top of the market. Within 6 months I was in some negative equity.

Extra transport, extra car, grade two = extra maintenance costs. Your sunk cost is simply too great.

There will be another house.

Mortgage value is always lower
It is realistic not inflated.

We sold last year, our house was under valued, by around £40k, we would not budge on price, our buyer was cash from sale, so no mortgage needed. The sale went through at the agreed price. Good luck OP.

Walk away, the mortgage valuation is what it's worth. The asking price is wishful thinking on the part of the seller. Any seller who refuses to accept the reality of their house's value shouldn't be rewarded for their greed and that is what it is, purely greed.

There will be another better house for you.

@redastherose

Walk away, the mortgage valuation is what it's worth. The asking price is wishful thinking on the part of the seller. Any seller who refuses to accept the reality of their house's value shouldn't be rewarded for their greed and that is what it is, purely greed.

There will be another better house for you.

Most house buyers know the value of the properties they are viewing, and what it is worth to them. Whether the conservative mortgage valuation backs that up, is another matter.

Walk away. This house doesn't sound like a great option for you.

It's unlikely another lender will agree to the high valuation as you only have a 5% deposit.
It's not a very fast moving/ desirable area from what you say.
It's Grade 2 listed so will be more expensive to maintain and you won't have any extra money
It's only a 5 year plan and there is a good chance that house prices will fall (imo)
It's a long commute for both of you so will take up a lot of your time and cost you a lot in fuel.

You could walk away (sounds like you have some doubts) but have you looked to see what else is available? Is there anything better at that price? My story is I sold my house a few years ago, the mortgage company undervalued it but it turned out they had done a “desktop” valuation which meant that they didn’t look at the house, or the road really- they just went on what similar houses had sold for 6 months ago. The market had moved in that time plus our house had a bigger garden (which was rare) and was in an excellent school catchment whereas the others at the end of the road weren’t (long road, London). Our buyers tried to renegotiate and I was sympathetic but I knew the house was worth what they had offered and that I’d be able to sell it to someone else, so I refused to negotiate. They then went to another lender and there was no problem. So do check what the mortgage valuation is based on, how it was done and what else is on the market.