House near commercial property

kazzamunga

Hi, me again, on my meandering and never ending journey towards selling a flat and buying a house. The flat seems to be going OK, but the house buying has become a real problem, so I want your advice as to whether I'm making life more difficult for myself. 
Having waited a month for a valuation because the vendor was on holiday, the valuer said that it was too close to a commercial property (a working men's club two doors down) and they said they can't lend. I have gone with a new broker because I wasn't happy with the one I was using, and have upfront asked him which lenders he knows that will be happy to lend for a house that is near a commercial property, but it seems like this is the wrong tack too, because they're all basically saying no! So what do I do? We love the house and have put an offer in at asking price, so clearly its saleability isn't too badly affected, but the banks say it's high risk. Am I actually shooting myself in the foot by laying out all the details, when it's up to the valuation to find out this stuff, and another valuer might say it's fine? Should I just keep quiet and try to apply to NatWest (who apparently are more open to commercial properties) in the hope that their valuer says something different? Maybe it's already too late for that. 
I find it so bizarre - where I live there are so many terraced houses between shops and bars that I can't see how any of them managed to get a mortgage if this is how it is. 

davidmcn

Do you really want to proceed when you're going to have the same problem when you sell or remortgage? Of course, you could just hope that the club will have turned into something more benign by then.

kazzamunga

But they are creating the problem, not us. If we do manage to get it sorted I guess we can just suggest the same route to anyone that wants to buy. The vendor had none of these issues, so there's always a chance that the rules could change in time, as they have already.  Plus, we are really not 'buy now, sell in 5 years' kinds of people. We'd want to stay for a long time and pay off the mortgage, so we're not too bothered about that at this stage. 

davidmcn

kazzamunga said:

The vendor had none of these issues, so there's always a chance that the rules could change in time, as they have already.

They could, but I doubt the market is going to change so that it becomes more desirable to live two doors away from licensed premises.
The fact you've made an offer doesn't indicate much about saleability unless you're actually able to proceed with the purchase.

kazzamunga

The house changed hands 3 times between 2000 and 2009, so it can't have been that hard to sell at the time? I don't know where you live, but there are literally pubs at the end of terraces everywhere up here.
Seems ironic that the sale prices are based on the opinions of buyers rather than professionals (when I was trying to sell my flat, that's all I kept hearing here - it's only worth what people want to pay for it), but that when you do make an offer based on what you want to pay, computer says no because of some criterion that doesn't matter to you. So it's a Catch 22 based on nothing. 

davidmcn

kazzamunga said:

The house changed hands 3 times between 2000 and 2009, so it can't have been that hard to sell at the time? I don't know where you live, but there are literally pubs at the end of terraces everywhere up here.

That's fine, but you're not buying at that time, you're buying now. These things have in general tightened up since 2009. If you can find someone to lend you the money, at least make sure your price reflects the relative undesirability.

kazzamunga

Yep, sounds like we'll have to. Cue negotiations that we didn't want to have to make, if we ever do get a lender. Wonderful. 

FreeBear

kazzamunga said: The house changed hands 3 times between 2000 and 2009,

So why have the owners sold after only three years ?

A house is a major investment that most people settle in for a lot longer.

kazzamunga

These ones have been here for 11 years, wouldn't know about any of the others...for some reason our paths haven't crossed? 

kazzamunga

Actually it was twice. And I think the answer is in the value:

kazzamunga

Sigh, does anyone have any actual advice here, or do people just comment to say my property choices are !!!!!!? 
Serious question: if I do finally get a lender for a 5y fixed rate which I think is worth it, what happens after the 5 years is up? Am I back in the same quagmire, or once a house has a mortgage on it is it a different story? And am I right to think that a lender can't force me onto a SVR?