What can I do about a ludicrous valuation of our property

Horlock

I'm in the process of trying to remortgage our property.

I went to an estate agent for a valuation who came back at £189,000 (which was slightly higher than expected).

I applied for a £110,000 mortgage paying for the valuation etc (ie borrowing slightly less than 60%) mortgage company willing to lend 70%!

I've just received the valuation from the mortgage provider at £151,000 (and the offer to lend of £101000).

What can I do?

I'm out of pocket and the offer is rediculous!
The house is in generally good condition (although the boundary wall has cracked - ie not the house wall)

The valuation is crazy. We live on the quietest of three parallel streets. Similar properties on the second quieter range between 189,000 and 250,000 (when we bought the property we paid more to live on our street because it was quieter), properties on the noisy street (A470) start from 175,000. There are currently no properties for sale on our street, for fair comparison.

What can I do? We can't accept the mortgage - are the company just taking the application fee and acting inappropriately?

Can I get an independant valuation and then prosecute the mortgage company to get my money back?

Trollfever

Can I get an independant valuation

Yes. Contact RICS and ask for a valuation for mortgage purposes:

http://www.rics.org/

puddy

why do you think its worth more tho,,, have you checked on home.co.uk and put in your post code to see the price drops in the last couple of years? from 190k, a 20% drop would make the mortgage valuation about right, in the 150s
its not the asking prices you need to look at

how much was the survey?

mystic_trev

Horlock wrote: »

Can I get an independant valuation - YES and then prosecute the mortgage company to get my money back? NO

:rolleyes:

penguine

Horlock wrote: »

There are currently no properties for sale on our street, for fair comparison.

As jenner said, it's not the asking prices you need to be looking at. There might be houses on the market nearby at £189k and above but that doesn't mean they're actually going to sell for that much.

Have you checked Rightmove for sold prices on your street and neighbouring over the past year?

keith969

A470 - is that Merthyr area? How quick are properties selling at the moment? The lender may just be very cautious, have you considered trying another lender?

chickmug

Horlock wrote: »

What can I do?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1907059
Read my post here and do some homework which will take 20/30 minutes or a bit more to value it yourself and see how it compares.

DeadCat

You may need to realise that your house is simply worth less than you think. This is a bad time to remortgage considering we've just had a house price crash and there may be further falls to come. As others have said, what have nearby properties actually SOLD for? It will be for much less than their Rightmove asking price.

Doozergirl

Remortgage valuations are notorious for coming in low!

Cannon_Fodder

Recent figures showed Rightmove prices being missed by 9% on average, when it comes to selling prices...

Horlock

Postcode of property is CF14 1UB (it's in Cardiff)
On rightmove the only property within 1/4 of mile of the house asking less than 151 is a one bedroom flat. Every other property including 1 bedroom flats are above.
The house is a 3 bedroom house, and all asking prices are consistent with the estate agent asking price.
As mentioned the survey picks up a crack in the boundary wall - but we weren't going to do anything with this as we have planning permission to knock the wall down to build an extension. Something we intend to do in a couple of years.

Most recent simliar sold price

8 Pantbach Road,
Cardiff,
CF14 1UA £173,000
Terraced
Freehold
Not New Build 30-Oct-2008
Map (CF14 1UA)
According to net house prices. However, our house has a larger plot of land and is end of terrace.