Remortgaging advice

KrisWragg

About 2.5 years ago I bought my house a reprosession for a good deal at 70k and at the time I was on a fairly low income of 23k and as a first time buyer on my own the best deal I could get was with Santander which was 4 years fixed at 5.99%.

My girlfriend has just recently moved in and we have decided that we are going to redo the kitchen and bathroom including a lot of structural work, currently getting estimates but should be around 10 -15k in total I would estimate.

Since buying my house I have switched jobs and had a couple of good pay rises (current salary is 41k) so I can now afford much higher repayments than on my current mortgage, plus my girlfriend is now contributing to the bills which also helps. So I have decided to remortgage my house to both reduce my term from 30 years to 15 whilst also borrowing extra to do work on the house.

I applied for the One Account as its flexibility seemed ideal so I could offset my spare income in to paying my house off quicker (I worked out roughly 7 years). Unfortunately I have been stuck in a battle with them because the valuer undervalued my house (in my opinion) which wouldn't allow me to borrow the extra I needed to do the work.

I originally told the people at One Account that I estimated my house at 90k - 120k going on recent sales but wasn't sure where in that range it was. They decided to base it off 90k and it appears the valuer has just agreed that value and not valued it correctly so am currently battling with them but the valuer will not tell them what they have based it on and I have just given the bank a list of recent sales ranging from 96k - 115k for very similar properties within a 2 mile radius so currently waiting to see if the valuer responds to that or not.

I currently owe around £58,000 plus a 4% ERC which I calculated as £60,500 to buy out of my current mortgage.

I am now debating whether to tell One Account where to shove it with their incompitant valuers and apply for a HSBC's 80% LTV no fees variable rate, but wanted some advice before applying for another mortgage, although the lesson I have learnt now is to be more optimistic when giving a value of my house as it seems it does affect things even though it shouldn't!

Anyway, thats my life story done, I thought I would just lay out all the details in one fell swoop.

Thanks in advance for any help!

betmunch

I dont think its the valuers that are incompetent, and believe me I am usually the last to stick up for valuers!

The One Account advisor put that the house was worth £90k (from your OP) the Valuer just agreed it. You should have based it on what you thought it was worth, and if your giving a range use the higher figure. The One Account advisor should have known this!

It is possible he could change the valuation, but hes basically agreed with what you had on the application and will be expecting a pat on the back rather than a load more work to do!

Dave_Ham

The issue will remain in the short term that irrespective of as many comparables as you can find, they can see you bought the house for £70k..

The way they operate, it will be unlikely they will change it based upon your appeal.

That said, and you think last company were incompetent...

Look through this forum regarding HSBC and especially when they go as a double act with Countrywide (surveyors) I will be amazed if it all adds up for you.

However, the deal is good and the loan to value more realistic just please be mindful as you go in....

This is only my opinion mind you, I am sure others have had easy, smooth transactions...

kingstreet

KrisWragg wrote: »

I originally told the people at One Account that I estimated my house at 90k - 120k

The valuer will only agree or disagree with the figure you put on the application. If you put £90k, chances are he will simply value it at £90k.

You do not get an open market valuation for a remortgage.

I normally see the approximate value as a single figure. How did you put down a range? Was it on paper?

ACG

Even if you are over optimistic, valuaers will still do what they think is right for the lender.
I had a mortgage for a client. It was valued at £155k, we needed it to be £151,200 to get a better rate, he came and valued it at £150k and they wouldnt budge despite the next doorneighbours property being sold 2 months earlier for £160k.

There are other offset accounts out there. Accord mortgages i think do one, YBS or Leeds (cant remember which it may be both), first direct i think do one also.

HSBC have their own rules on how they do business - plenty of threads on here to back that up. I have a slight bias here but it might be worth seeing a broker?

KrisWragg

I did the application on the phone initially, they then sent all the paper work through which mostly just required some paper work from me and a couple of signatures.

I guess it is mostly my fault for thinking that the valuer would actually do a proper valuation instead of a yes/no, had I known this I would have just given a higher value and not a range of which they used the lower end.

As for initially buying the house at 70k, I guess that might work against me but it was a reprosession and it was a great bargain for the 70k and I have done a lot to the house in the last two years, looking at comparables its probably 100 - 110k after looking more closely at recent sales.

Also I am not tied to the idea of an offset, mostly I just want a mortgage with no ERC and also with unlimited repayments as my current one has a limit which is why I want out, aside from the high 5.99% and 28 year term left.

I guess that mostly limits me to offsets or variables.

And it seems the consensus is that HSBC are difficult to get a mortgage with?

betmunch

KrisWragg wrote: »

I guess it is mostly my fault for thinking that the valuer would actually do a proper valuation instead of a yes/no, had I known this I would have just given a higher value and not a range of which they used the lower end.

Dont beat yourself up over this, your wernt to know how things work, but the guy of the phone should have done.

KrisWragg

betmunch wrote: »

Dont beat yourself up over this, your wernt to know how things work, but the guy of the phone should have done.

Its a little annoying that I may lose out on the valuers fee, but I know I have a good income in comparison to the mortgage I need and a good credit rating.

So in reality I should have no trouble providing I can get a good valuation and am a bit smarter with my next application.

betmunch

You had to pay the Val fee? I've not done a One Account remo in years, didnt even realise you would be paying for a val.

Consider it an expensive lesson.

Nothing looked out of place in your posts, apart from the bit about the valuation so you should be good I reckon, no promises mind. I'm not personally lending you the money!