Fixed rate ending in August - advice please!

1399steve

Hi all,

We bought our house in August 2008 on a 3 year fixed rate deal @ 6.38% which ends in august this year.

This was a 95% mortgage but we've been over paying and saving hard and hope to be in a position to get an 80% LTV deal when we re-mortgage but of course this will depend on the valuation.

I obviously want to get the best deal I can so I have a couple of questions for anyone more familiar with re-mortgaging:

1. With interest rate increases looking likely, can I book a fixed rate in advance and if so, how far in advance?

2. How do lenders value properties for re-mortgage? Do they send round a valuer like when I originally bought the property or just apply an average percentage decrease to the price I paid? If it's the latter I may lose out because our street does not seem to have fallen as much as others due to location near good primary and secondary schools and good transport links.

Also if anyone has any other advice, I'd be very appreciative!

Thanks

sdd7677

I am in the similar situation and was trying to find answer for same questions as my fixed rate ending in June.
1. Most lenders can book remortgage six month in advance(though you need to check with them independentl,not a general rule) if you are willing to pay booking fee.
2. This is entirely depend on the lender(as far as I know) whether to use online tool or valuer. but if you remortgaging with the existing lender they will not(in most cases) carry out valuation of the property.
Hope this helps and update as you go along....:T

1399steve

Thanks for this.

I suppose I'm in a bit of a dilemma at the moment though as I haven't yet got all the money saved up for 80% LTV and won't have it before the fixed rate ends. And even then its going to be pretty close depending on house valuation. I suppose my worry is paying a booking fee for 80% LTV and then getting a low valuation which would make me ineligible.

Would the booking fee be on top of the mortgage arrangement fee I'd have to pay anyway or would I just be paying it ahead of time? If its just a question of bringing forward a fee I would have to pay anyway then this might be an option.

I've been looking at 3 year fixed rates from post office and HSBC (current lender)

1399steve

Just had another look at the HSBC deal which is 4.69% 3 year fix so if I can get that rate at the value when I bought then it looks like a decent deal, compared to what I'm on now at least!

Perhaps I'll try and get an appointment soon......

sdd7677

I think you have to pay booking fee upfront(atleast part if not full) otherwise people can walk away if they find better deal in few month's time...I had similar sort of questions too. Best thing is call/walk in the branch and make an appointment with mortgage advicer. I did same with current lender-HSBC

Just a personal suggestion. Please browse this forum around and try to judge what's best for you. 5 year fixed i personally feel better than 3 year. Also give consideration to tracker...m not mortgage advicer but I have been reading and researching this thing a lot (these days leaving my chemistry research somewhere)....

1399steve

Just spoken to HSBC and apparently you can't book a rate any further out than 6 weeks so i'll have to keep a close eye on things and get an appointment mid-June - just hope the rate stays down long enough!