Remortgaging with the Halifax

the_mitchells

Hi im not sure if anyone can offer any advice on my first time on this forum...
We have mortgage with Halifax which weve had since sept 07 ive had a couple of conversations with them recently asking if we can add £2-3,000 onto our mortgage but they turned us down due to what they value our property at . They are saying our house is valued at £111,000 as our mortgage is only slightly less than that they couldnt offer us any more ive explained to them that there are houses selling in the area similar to our house for £150-£160,000 but they have advised me if im not happy with the valuation i could pay them £110 & they would come & officially value it. They also told me to note that the value isnt done on the house or street but on area im slightly annoyed by there arrogance as they valued it at £140,000 less than 2 years ago i have since asked for payment holiday for 2 months but got refused on same grounds any advice or am i going to have pay the Halifax the £110?

Thank you for any advice given

_Andy_

You will need to pay them the £110.

opinions4u

the_mitchells wrote: »

ive explained to them that there are houses selling in the area similar to our house for £150-£160,000

On the market with an estate agent for that amount or actually selling week in week out for that amount? Probably the former.

but they have advised me if im not happy with the valuation i could pay them £110 & they would come & officially value it.

Can you think of a fairer way to establish the value of a property?

They also told me to note that the value isnt done on the house or street but on area

Many streets have no house sales in a year. If the four bedroom on the corner sells, does this really reflect the value of the 3 bed semi further along? Area indexing is the best mathematical solution. But is at best a reasonable estimation, not an accurate valuation.

im slightly annoyed by there arrogance as they valued it at £140,000 less than 2 years ago

And house prices have gone down by around 20%. £140k - 20% = £112k. Pretty close to the indexing they use.

i have since asked for payment holiday for 2 months but got refused on same grounds any advice or am i going to have pay the Halifax the £110?

You'll have to pay and run the risk of the valuer agreeing with the indexing and spending your £110 for no benefit to you.

The fact lenders use an indexing system actually reduces the number of valuations that customers have to pay for. In the past, all lending over and above 75% of the previous value required a new valuation to be paid for. Nearly always at the customers' expense.

Out of interest, if you need a payment holiday now can you really afford to borrow an extra £2k to £3k?

mpsavuk

The bottom line is that a house is only ever worth what a lender is prepared to lend on it?