Remortgaging - Advice for a novice

edgooner

Hi all

I've read through a lot of posts on here, but obviously they are very subjective to the people asking about their situations. I'd very much appreciated anyones' suggestions for my questions.

4 years ago I bought a 3 bed flat in NW London for £225,000, borrowing £200k and providing the rest as deposit. I'm now near the end of my fixed term deal with Abbey. They have offered 5.24% in that period on an interest only basis. I've just phoned them and they said they could offer a new 1 year fixed rate at 4.79%. This would save me about £100 per month in repayments but also has a £599 fee attached.

First question, should I reallistically expect anything better for moving somewhere else. My early research shows that there aren't too many better deals out there, but if there are, are the fees associated with moving and signing up worth it generally?

Also, when filling in mortgage calculators, do you use the value you bought the flat at or what you think it would be now?

Thanks a lot in advance.

luckyfool

You use the current value.

If you can get the ltv under 75 or 80% then it is worth shopping around, otherwise you are likely to be better off staying on the SVR or a new product with Abbey. Is your deal moving to SVR after the fixed rate or a different reversionary deal?

edgooner

Thanks very much lucky.

If I moved to another provider, would they come and value it or how do we come up with the current value?

luckyfool

Most likely they would get a full valuation, though depending on the lender they might use a Drive By or AVM (computer based valuation).