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Original poster

Remortgage and LVT

15 replies

autumn1610 · 02/10/2023 10:43

just looking for a bit of advice, as I’m now eligible to remortgage (due end of feb 24) planning to hold on at the moment before committing, but want to get myself in the best position, as currently looking to jump from £490 to over £800 a month 😩

I’ve checked my valuation which is based on HPI brought the house at £171k and Natwest currently valuing at £212k. However I have had it valued by an estate agent a while back at £230k (not sure what it would be now as houses can be taking a bit of a dip) doing the calcs online Natwest has my LTV at 67% but if I do it based on estate agent valuation it drops it to 62% (have carried out renovations on the house since buying it)

Do you think it is worth paying for a new valuation if it could drop the LTV by 5%? I have been advised it would cost between £100-150 to have it done

OP posts:

Oldermum84 · 02/10/2023 10:48

I don't think you would be offered a lower rate unless it dropped to 60%.

GasPanic · 02/10/2023 10:56

Depends what you mean by "a while ago".

A year or so ago was probably peak market.

Depends also what prices are doing in your area. If there is turnover and similar houses available you should be able to get a decent idea of what it is worth just by looking at sale and advertised prices.

Some areas there is strong demand and prices will increase for the right properties. But in the majority prices are dropping.

DrySherry · 02/10/2023 11:05

Be careful, current valuations are considerably lower at the moment. Do your research properly before you spend the money - it could easily be just to find out its down valued from where you expected..

BoardTopChair · 02/10/2023 11:09

@autumn1610 When you say you are looking at mortgages are you looking at comparison sites like London and Country for whole of the market to see what mortgages are out there? Put in your amounts, tinker around with the valuation and see what comes up.

Don't just look at what the bank you are with offers. L&C are free so if you go through them to find a deal they won't charge you anything. They have been recommended by Money Saving Expert for years.

JobMatch3000 · 02/10/2023 11:13

Oldermum84 · 02/10/2023 10:48

I don't think you would be offered a lower rate unless it dropped to 60%.

Agree with this.

Original poster

autumn1610 · 02/10/2023 11:20

@GasPanic it was in April this year I had it valued. I’ve had a look on rightmove for the estate that I’m on, there are similar properties on the market for £230k but they actually need renovating and mine is done, so fairly confident it is still worth that figure or maybe a bit more. Im also basing LTV on current mortgage without taking 5more months of payments off it but figured it was easier than trying to guess what it would be.

@BoardTopChair will definitely be going to other vendors for options but last remortgage the fees didn’t make it worthwhile to swap and with taking loans out to do the house up it made sense to stick with my current provider at the time, however market has changed drastically since I last remortgaged.

OP posts:

BoardTopChair · 02/10/2023 11:32

@autumn1610 as someone who has been remortgaging for almost 25 years always look at what everyone is offering, crunch numbers on fees and no fees over the term of the fix if that is what you are going for. On L&C you can order the results by fee cost high to low and monthly payments etc so easier to see.

My house on Zoopla says a certain price but we have had building work done to this house, extended and added rooms plus completely renovated it throughout and at least twice the mortgage company has sent someone to value it as our estimated value didn't match the online value when we go for a remortgage.

Might be worth getting a valuation but only if you think your LTV would drop below the 60% as that is usually the next tier.

caringcarer · 02/10/2023 11:48

Whether LTV is 62 or 67 makes no difference as next band to get lower LTV is 60 percent.

GasPanic · 02/10/2023 12:01

autumn1610 · 02/10/2023 11:20

I suppose the counter argument would be whether they are actually selling at that price ?

Anyway, if you can scrape together the extra cash to get the mortgage down so it will come below 60% and are confident that it is worth more than the current valuation then maybe worth a shot.

butterflycatcher · 02/10/2023 12:56

Whoever you choose to remortgage with will carry out their own valuation of your property whether in person or by desktop before confirming your new deal with you. Whilst I understand local markets can differ, given how house price values are steadily dropping overall, the value of your home could be 212k now according to the HPI but only 207k in 3 months time for example which would have the opposite effect to what you are trying to achieve. At the same time mortgage rates are showing signs of falling so by waiting you may get a better rate but your house value will be lower. You can kick off the process now and lock something in but not necessarily pull the trigger and then see if rates/value change over the coming months and change deals if a better one comes up.

Original poster

autumn1610 · 02/10/2023 14:27

@GasPanic yeah I need to start paying attention to if the houses are actually selling and seeing if I can find out sell price but I know it takes a while to come up on zoopla. They seem to be selling but in my area they used to be on for a week and gone but not sure now. I don’t think I have the spare cash to get it below 60% so I might just leave it I wasn’t sure if getting it down 5% would make a difference but as a few of you said if I can’t get it below 60% then probably not worth it.

Im going through a tricky time anyway in relationship sense so it could be that I will be selling rather than remortgaging anyway, but similar situation either way.

rates have already dropped slightly since I first looked so I know roughly what roughly to expect with an over 6% rate

OP posts:

Stephisaur · 02/10/2023 15:45

You can't really go off estate agent valuations. To get an accurate value, you would need to pay for an RICS valuation. They don't account for aesthetics, so it's a lot closer to how the bank will value.

CrashyTime · 02/10/2023 15:47

Don`t listen to EA talk about valuations.

Original poster

autumn1610 · 02/10/2023 16:56

@Stephisaur this is why I was asking if it is worth paying to get a new valuation on the property, as I know estate agents don’t value for mortgages. I didn’t know if new bathroom, kitchen, wiring etc made a difference to the HPI value from the bank and if it did would it be worth me paying out to have this done, to put my LTV lower. I understand it doesn’t matter what colour I’ve decorated it etc but didn’t know if modernising a property would make a difference. In terms of the EA value it definitely has as if I sold would I would make around £86k if I sold for their lower estimate of £230k

OP posts:

Stephisaur · 02/10/2023 17:02

@autumn1610 modernising would definitely have made a difference and the work you've done won't be reflected in the HPI as that just guesses based on market trends in your area. Sounds like it would be worth paying for a valuation, if you're near the Midlands then there's a company I can recommend x

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