Home improvement loan after completion

prognostic

Hello you wonderful guys out there -

I am a first time home buyer looking for completion with a mortgage in about two weeks. The house being purchased needs some essential works done - like it has no flooring, kitchen and bathroom are nearly 'unusable', needs redecoration throughout. I also need to buy all the furniture and appliances.

I have never done any DIY myself, however planning to do the flooring and painting myself. I will have a savings of about 2K after the purchase. Looking to take a personal loan to help with the costs - around 15K. Given our combined household earning, I am comfortable that we should be able to afford this (leaving a few hundred for the unexpected).

After having read through a few other posts, I understand that I should not be doing any credit searches or take a loan until completion. However, I am planning to apply right after completion. I will not have moved my house until a month later to allow for some of these works - so will not be updating my home address anywhere.

Is it going to be okay given the electoral register should have my current home address?
Also, is it the right sort of timing to apply for an unsecured loan?

Thanks for your responses in advance. First time poster too - so please be gentle.

Thrugelmir

prognostic wrote: »

kitchen and bathroom are nearly 'unusable',

Surprised you got a mortgage.

[Deleted User]

I would say that you should leave it as long as you can,certainly until you are on the ER at the new address and have transferred other details to it,the more established financially you are at the new address the better IMHO

prognostic

Thank you for your responses.

I know we should wait if we can, but really think we should be able to do it now. It is the current state of the house which is why I was able to get it under the market price by about 30K-40K I think (as was indicated in the valuation as well). Had I taken a larger mortgage, I would be paying a little more for much longer. I am trying to get the cheapest kitchen and bathroom for now until we can afford better.

I was thinking that I would apply right after so that the ER does not affect me. Also is it not that it takes some time for the credit file to be updated with the mortgage details after the completion?

Please understand that I am not looking to fool the system - it is more of a I want it as quickly as possible so that the work can be finished on time.

tlc678910

I think the "surprised you got a mortgage comment" referred to the fact that a house generally has to be considered habitable (i.e. have a usable kitchen and bathroom) to be able to get a normal mortgage rather than a derogatory remark about you.

CLAPTON

prognostic wrote: »

Thank you for your responses.

I know we should wait if we can, but really think we should be able to do it now. It is the current state of the house which is why I was able to get it under the market price by about 30K-40K I think (as was indicated in the valuation as well). Had I taken a larger mortgage, I would be paying a little more for much longer. I am trying to get the cheapest kitchen and bathroom for now until we can afford better.

I was thinking that I would apply right after so that the ER does not affect me. Also is it not that it takes some time for the credit file to be updated with the mortgage details after the completion?

Please understand that I am not looking to fool the system - it is more of a I want it as quickly as possible so that the work can be finished on time.

if it's as bad as you say, I too am surprised you got a mortgage
however you should have got a bigger one to pay for the work as you can always 'overpay' on the mortgage


however, now all you can do it try and see.

prognostic

I really appreciate the experts providing such quick responses on this forum. I also understand that all the advice is given with good intentions etc.

However, I do not understand why I sense this lack of trust about our idea that the kitchen is bad enough 'for us' with a couple of 'I am surprised you got a mortgage'. Our mortgage advisor and the solicitors seemed to echo our thoughts. As for the mortgage, I thought the mortgage valuation would just check that they are present - I would not expect them to turn anything on to even check if it is working. They would not regard a near-broken door as the reason to not approve the mortgage, is it?

With regards to getting a bigger mortgage, to me it was like saving 30K on the property price that is going to cost about 15K to fix. I would have incurred another £100-150 in a mortgage for 25 years, but instead choosing £350 a month unsecured loan over 5 years. I can overpay either of them if I had the extra money. Together with the perceived 15K discount, does not sound like a bad deal. I certainly think that I understand my finances and am continuing to play safe.

I get this impression that the experts on this forum are not too keen on my question because they disapprove of another loan.

Please do not misunderstand my message.

Pixie5740

A near broken door, so not actually broken then.

With any property I always think it's best to move in and see how you use the space before splashing out thousands of pounds on "home improvements."

You are first time buyers so whilst you might think you can comfortably afford the £15k loan you might be surprised by repairs and maintenance that crop up once you move in, you don't want to leave yourself short. I just bought a top floor flat in June and it transpires that the front door was just an internal door with a 3 lever mortice lock on it. Useless in a fire and I wasn't insured so I had to replace that immediately to the tune of about £500. I'm also discovering a plethora of dodgy DIY.

Not only that but I'm not sure if you've rented before or were living with parents but you definitely want to get an idea of your budget once you get moved in before applying for any more credit. You don't want to end up feeling like a prisoner in your own home.

CLAPTON

prognostic wrote: »

I really appreciate the experts providing such quick responses on this forum. I also understand that all the advice is given with good intentions etc.

However, I do not understand why I sense this lack of trust about our idea that the kitchen is bad enough 'for us' with a couple of 'I am surprised you got a mortgage'. Our mortgage advisor and the solicitors seemed to echo our thoughts. As for the mortgage, I thought the mortgage valuation would just check that they are present - I would not expect them to turn anything on to even check if it is working. They would not regard a near-broken door as the reason to not approve the mortgage, is it?

With regards to getting a bigger mortgage, to me it was like saving 30K on the property price that is going to cost about 15K to fix. I would have incurred another £100-150 in a mortgage for 25 years, but instead choosing £350 a month unsecured loan over 5 years. I can overpay either of them if I had the extra money. Together with the perceived 15K discount, does not sound like a bad deal. I certainly think that I understand my finances and am continuing to play safe.

I get this impression that the experts on this forum are not too keen on my question because they disapprove of another loan.

Please do not misunderstand my message.

maybe your choice of words like 'nearly unusable' were unwise.

The house being purchased needs some essential works done - like it has no flooring, kitchen and bathroom are nearly 'unusable', needs redecoration throughout. I also need to buy all the furniture and appliances.

anyway the cheapest way would have been to increase the mortgage amount as you can simply overpay so the extra was cleared early (and of course you would already have the cash in the bank). You clearly do NOT understand finance.

However you are where you are and will simply have to apply for a loan once completion has taken place.