Gutted. Remortgage. House valuation too low.

sp00ky2002

Just spent the last 2 months going through the process of remortgaging for better rate with First Active only to have the house valued at £80000, £3000 less then the outstanding mortgage balance.... a drop in value of £20000 ina little under 2 years....

Is there anything I can do??? First Active have already made an offer to give us 100% of mortgage at the same rate but that still leaves us short...

Can we ask for a 2nd valuation from another company?
Would this incur additional charges?

Joe_Bloggs

I suspect that you would have to pay extra for another seperate survey. There is no guarantee it would do you any good. There is a sticky post on the House buying, Renting etc. forum here that can be used to view land registry prices of properties sold in your area.
Is your property leasehold ? If so how many years left on the lease ?
J_B.

sp00ky2002

Property is freehold. There are a few (small) DIY jobs on the go with it (things like a couple of tiles on kitchen windowsill to be fitted, new door needed on upstairs toilet) but I wouldn't think this would have impact on valuation - especially for a remortgage.....


Have checked out that link and the last property sold on my street was sept 05 on went for £76k. Looks like my previous mortgage supplier wildly over valued the house.....

Debt_Free_Chick

That suggests that the value of your property has fallen by 20% in 2 years :eek:

Surely, wherever you are in the Country, that cannot be right? Did the surveyor actually visit the property or simply do a "drive by"?

Mortgage lenders will always do their own valuation, so asking for another survey is not likely to be of much help. However, I would discuss this with them as a fall of 20% in the last 2 years is really not in line with the housing market, on average, in the UK. Perhaps there's been a mix-up?

Get on the blower!

sp00ky2002

been told the best course of action is to ask local estate agents for an average figure for the immediate area. This can then be used to appeal the decision. Will post back results.

MortgageMamma

I have had this problem in the past with first active, I've had a couple of properties downvalued and my clients remortgages fallen through the floor because of it. you have a right to challenge a valuation with a lender. what you have to do is find a number of similar properties in the local area and provide evidence that they have sold for an amount the same or above what you are suggesting is the value of your property. an estate agent valuation would also be useful to back up your claims. You may have to fork out to challenge the valuation, if you do make sure they use a different firm of surveyors as one from the same firm will not pull down a colleagues opinion. Think carefully if its worth taking this route or not. ask your mortgage broker to investigate it for you or approach first active directly.

Good luck

MM

sp00ky2002

MortgageMamma - thanks for the info. I am going to scout a couple of estate agents at the weekend but failing that I may consider looking at another lender...