Accord Mortgages --- help Please

partialycloudy

Hi All,

Very quick run down of our situation.

Sold our flat in March and moved in with our parents. We have had two properties fall through and have a feeling the 3rd will fall through too

First house fell though due to break down of chain...ca't be helped.

2nd house, was on the market for £295,000 we had offer accepted at £285,000. Mortgage arrnaged through Accord and the valuer says property only worth £270,000. The sellers wouldn't more on the price, we apealed teh valuers decision but they would not budge even though we provided serveral compariables. We decided not to try and go through another mortgage company as we felt we were best off taking the advice of a professional (i.e the valuer) so we pulled out. The house quickly sold again a week later!

3rd property, on the market at £270,000 and we offered full asking price. We stuck with the accord mortgage and the valuation has just come back at £260,000! we are in the process of apealing the decision again but I don't hold out much hope!

We are getting a 90% mortgage, so we are now thinking that the mortgage company is not really wanting our business?
should we be suspicious that each time the property is down valued by exactly £10K?

This is all getting very stressful, we have no problems with affordability....we just want a home!

Should we just apply else where? Has anyone else had this experience with Accord?

Thanks

ACG

The valuation is not decided by accord but the surveyor.

I dont like accord at the best of times but in this instance I can say its not their fault. To appeal you need to find 3 similar properties within a close distance that have sold for whatever price you want it valued at or more.

Leon_W

See hear http://www.accordmortgages.com/literature-information/fees-charges/down-valuations/


It's not really Accords problem with the downvaluation but at least there is an appeals process.

partialycloudy

Well thats we thought with the first one, but do they not pass on any info to the valuer?
Or if they think a mortgage is higher risk could they apply their own risk calculation to the value?

Also, we supplied 3 comparibles last time and appealed twice to the surveyour and we went over his/her head but still nothing was changed.

ACG

Appealing is a waste of time in my opinion. If you are looking at properties within a close proximity its not uncommon that you would get the same surveyor. Its his opinion that is being paid for.

You could ask the vendors to lower their price as their property is not worth that? Alternatively you could find a new lender that uses a different surveyor but again lenders tend to farm it out to countrywide, eserv or connells and you could end up with the same surveyor.

partialycloudy

As with the second house, this seller will not reduce his price.

its seems rather unfair that mortgage companies offer 90% mortgages, but because we have less deposits we are more likely to get downvalued. If this fulls through someone else will sweep in with maybe a 20% deposit and get a mortgage no problem...Just like the last house we lost out on.

ACG

partialycloudy wrote: »

its seems rather unfair that mortgage companies offer 90% mortgages, but because we have less deposits we are more likely to get downvalued.

I dont believe that is the case.

I have done dozens of 90/95% mortgages that have gone through without being down valued. The last one I had down valued was at 68% LTV.

I dont believe the valuer knows what LTV you are purchasing at, they just know the purchase price.

partialycloudy

So the same valuer could value it for someone else with a bigger deposit and say "no, worth 260,000"....but then another valuer would say it is worth the 270,000.

I dont know whats more frustrating? Being unlucky with valuers twice or feeling like the mortgage company is having a laugh at our expense.

We can't keep doing this though we have lost over £2000 in fees trying to buy a home, not to mention the stress and anxiety of it all. I can't even explain how tired I am of it all

ACG

partialycloudy wrote: »

So the same valuer could value it for someone else with a bigger deposit and say "no, worth 260,000"....but then another valuer would say it is worth the 270,000.

No they could not do that.

Neither could the lender. They have an obligation to treat customers fairly - that does not mean giving people what they want, but it means treating them equally.

partialycloudy

I mean also with another mortgage company.

I'm not stamping my feet about this. But the whole thing is just, well, annoying to say the least.

There is nothing we can do if the buyer doesn't drop their price or we can't get the valuer to agree to a change in their thinking. The purchase will fall through, and next week it will sell again to someone else for fall asking price and there will be nothing we can do about it.

ACG

Different lenders have different guidelines so it is entirely feasible that could happen, although it is unlikely to happen with the same surveyor.

It might be worth finding a lender who has free valuations? At least then you are not wasting money on that and you can make a speculative application? (Not something i would recommend but if you really want the property then it might be worth it).