Mortgage for a fixer upper harder to get?

WLITC

Is it more difficult to get a mortgage for a fixer-upper place that needs a lot of work? Still in the deposit saving stage but was just looking on right move at some places and saw one or two bargains but each needed a lot of work.

What type of properties is a lender not likely to lend for?

kingstreet

Anything considered unmortgageable - for example, with no kitchen or bathroom, or needing such large essential repairs the surveyor does not feel the property is suitable security for the mortgage.

WLITC

kingstreet wrote: »

Anything considered unmortgageable - for example, with no kitchen or bathroom, or needing such large essential repairs the surveyor does not feel the property is suitable security for the mortgage.

So how do people get mortgages for these type of properties? You see these TV shows, where people buy run down houses and then over time fix them up (Property Ladder, etc), or would it have to be in really bad state (structually, etc) to be considerd so bad that its suitable security for a mortgage?

amnblog

People doing up run down properties will normally have a 'fighting fund' that does not need to be secured against any project property.

If funds are borrowed it is normally against existing property.

WLITC

amnblog wrote: »

People doing up run down properties will normally have a 'fighting fund' that does not need to be secured against any project property.

If funds are borrowed it is normally against existing property.

So do you mean they have to have a deposit, plus an additonal £10-20k to fix it up, etc?

WLITC

This is the kind of propety I was talking about. Would this sort of place get a standard mortgage? http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44226854.html

bendis

Is that an ex-council high rise? I think that's more of a concern for lenders than the state of the flat.

ACG

It depends what you class as a fixer upper.

The house i bought was off a 92 year old man. The whole place needed decorating. The bathroom was avocado (but it worked - so it was acceptable), the kitchen was older than me (and im 30) but again, it worked so it was fine.

There was no central heating, it was electric heaters and storage heaters and for a laugh it needed rewiring half the plugs never worked the ones that did had black smoke around them - it worked but i would not trust them.

The place had not been touched for 20-30 years but it was habitable even if its somewhere you would not really want to live.

The surveyor accepted it and the mortgage flew through with no issues.

If as Kingstreet says there is no bathroom/kitchen you are going to struggle. Unless you get development finance (which will not be cheap) or you can secure the money against another property then you need to be looking at other properties.

WLITC

bendis wrote: »

Is that an ex-council high rise? I think that's more of a concern for lenders than the state of the flat.

Yes that one is. Are ex-council/tower block be problematic for a mortgage in general?

ACG wrote: »

It depends what you class as a fixer upper.

The house i bought was off a 92 year old man. The whole place needed decorating. The bathroom was avocado (but it worked - so it was acceptable), the kitchen was older than me (and im 30) but again, it worked so it was fine.

There was no central heating, it was electric heaters and storage heaters and for a laugh it needed rewiring half the plugs never worked the ones that did had black smoke around them - it worked but i would not trust them.

The place had not been touched for 20-30 years but it was habitable even if its somewhere you would not really want to live.

The surveyor accepted it and the mortgage flew through with no issues.

Okay, thanks for this, if I was going down this path, the it prob wouldn't be anything worst that what you describe.

egoode

WLITC wrote: »

Yes that one is. Are ex-council/tower block be problematic for a mortgage in general?

Yes lenders can be very picky about ex-council tower blocks as they generally have not been very well maintained over the years and the service charges on them can be extremely high. It's not unusual for owners to get told they need to pay more than £10,000 to the council (they are usually still the freeholder) to just bring the building up to the minimum standards for today.

I think you are generally ok if the building is under 7 stories but every lender will have their own specific rules on this.

PasturesNew

Most people you see on the telly have got a smallish mortgage on their existing houses and good jobs/income.

They get a mortgage either on the do-er up-er based on their jobs, with their large savings in the bank for a deposit .... or they mortgage their existing house to pay for it.

There are a lot of people out there with that sort of income, equity and savings.

If you are starting from nothing, then it's harder as you've nothing to lose and no track record.