preparing to remortgage - to fix or not?

hohum · 2 September 2016 at 1:59PM

Our fixed rate ends May 2017, and I'm starting to think about getting ready to remortgage.

We are on a 20 year mortgage with Accord, 2 years at 1.63% then goes up to their awful SVR of 5.something or other %. We are with Accord because our application wasn't handled brilliantly by our broker - my other threads on this are in my profile. But basically, director of ltd company by guarantee, paid through PAYE. Partner is self empoyed. I am considering a DIY for the remortgage, or we may go with another broker recommended to us.

We will have around 65k remaining on the mortgage at the time of remortgaging. The property was valued at £96000 (our offer) at purchase. We have made improvements that I believe would increase that valuation by £5-10k but I might be being optimistic? Houses round here tend to sell for between £100-125k, and ours was listed for £105k. Our house had been vacant for a couple of years and needed some tlc

The biggy would be the bathroom being redone. I imagine the more useful things like rebedding ridge tiles and fixing a mains leak under the house don't have that much impact on value?

So here are my questions:

Would it be worth getting the house revalued as part of the remortgage process? It would obviously take us into the under 65% LTV , I imagine that would be better for us.

Are there any calculators where I can work out whether it's worth taking another fix, taking into account fees etc?

Would I be crazy to go with Accord again if they offer another fix? I am wondering if I'd save on fees that way.

Anything else I should consider? I would want an 18 year term, would like to keep monthly repayments fairly low (we've been a bit spoilt by our current repayment and there's still work to be done on the house).