Mortgage/LTV advice

Brodiebobs

We currently have a H@lifax mortgage fix until April 17 @2.89%

We bought the house 4 years ago paid £130,000, outstanding balance is £123,000.

House was a wreck, we've done substantial renovations, new bathrooms, electrics, heating then plastering and wooden floors/carpets throughout.

Zoopla has the value at £170,000 but guess that's just what we paid plus the general increase in the area?

There's no houses like ours to compare, but a few smaller ones have sold for sale for in excess of £250,000 last few months.

Don't really want to jump through hoops to re-mortgage elsewhere as we struggled on affordability 4 years ago so am sure it will have worsened since then!

Is it worth paying the H@lifax for a valuation to hopefully get a better rate?

kingstreet

Establish the Halifax indexed value before you think about paying for a drive-by or internal inspection.

Call them and they will tell you.

You may be better off remortgaging to another lender as you should be able to do so at £0 cost.

dimbo61

" We bought the house 4 years ago paid £130,000, outstanding balance is £123,000. "

So four years ago you paid £130K for the property with what a 5% deposit and you still owe £123K ? After 4 years ???

What was the LTV when you bought the house and what would be the LTV now if it is worth £170K ?
Then see what deals they have.
Things have not got any easier in getting a mortgage so maybe looking at New Deals for Existing Customers with Halifax might be the way to go.

Brodiebobs

Thanks I should have explained we paid £130,000 with a 10% deposit then after 2 years borrowed £17,000 to pay off some debt accrued in the renovations.

I'll speak to Halifax about their valuations but when we did the additional lending it wasn't too dissimilar to the zoopla one, as I assume they use the same figures.

I think it needs someone to come and value so they can see and appreciate the money and time that's gone into it, as what we paid reflected the amount of work that was needed to make it habitable.

I don't really want to change lender as we struggled with affordability last time and h@lifqx was only people who would lend to us as we also have a house we let so they take that mortgage into account too. In total both mortgages are almost 5x our income.

dimbo61

If properties in your area have increased in value well good but in many parts of the country things have not changed in the last 6/8 years.
Could you look at Halifax website for new deals for existing customers?
You normally add value by increasing space ( Loft conversion/extension) and not a new bathroom/kitchen/new electrics

Brodiebobs

Yes have looked for the deals for existing customers but We don't know the LTV, hence why I wanted to know whether people recommended paying for the valuation in a view to getting a better valuation.

Weve added an extra room, and an en-suite and bought some additional land, plus the house wasn't habitable, they weren't general decorations we did the house hasn't been lived in for years and the owners had done little with it since they bought it in the 1940's this was reflected in the price we paid...

I've spoken to H@lifax and they have the value just over the Z@@pla estimate, but they said what I assumed is based on general increase in the area, we would need to pay for a full valuation if we think it's worth more than that, they have recommended speaking to the local advisor in branch.

Thrugelmir

Brodiebobs wrote: »

Weve added an extra room, and an en-suite and bought some additional land

Then only a full proper survey can determine it's value for mortgage purposes. As far as the Halifax is concerned the property is in essence what you purchased originally.

Before expending money. Worth seeing what's on offer first. Though a little early if your current product doesn't end until the end of April.

Brodiebobs

Thanks, I was only getting in early as the online site said you can look at 3 months before end of your deal which is early Jan.

erin110

You would save a lot of time and hassle by speaking to a broker. They will be able to work out your affordability and tell you if you can move to anyone else. They should also have access to Halifax's system which is a very good system. If you give the broker permission, they will be able to see the value of your house on Halifax's system and should they feel a product switch with Halifax is best after considering the overall picture, they can even process it for you.

Brodiebobs

Thanks that's good to know, we used a broker to get the mortgage but i didn't realise they could deal with them mid-term too.

Will give them a call too.

erin110

You can't do it with every lender but Halifax you can. You can defiantly complete product transfers but I don't think you can borrow any additional. You would have to go into Halifax direct for that. Just speak to your broker they will know.