Revalue house before remortgaging?

mrsmcdade

Evening all,

Our current mortgage rates are coming to an end in April, so we are starting to look into remortgaging.

We have done a lot of work on the house since we bought it, such as installing a new kitchen and full central heating. Should we get the property revalued before remortgaging? If so, what is the easiest and cheapest way to do so?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Deleted User]

When you remortage your lender will arrange a valuation, which can be free depending on what deal you get.

UK007BullDog

If you remortgage with a new lender then they will revalue the property however if you go for the basic valuation you will not get a copy of it, so would have to pay extra for one.

The existing lender might just do an online survey or not even bother.

Why would you want to survey the property unless you wanted to borrow on top of your existing mortgage? Is this the case? Or is it just for your own information?

I know a cheap way. Ask 3 local estate agents to come round and give you an idea of what it would catch in todays market.

mrsmcdade

UK007BullDog wrote: »

If you remortgage with a new lender then they will revalue the property however if you go for the basic valuation you will not get a copy of it, so would have to pay extra for one.

The existing lender might just do an online survey or not even bother.

Why would you want to survey the property unless you wanted to borrow on top of your existing mortgage? Is this the case? Or is it just for your own information?

I know a cheap way. Ask 3 local estate agents to come round and give you an idea of what it would catch in todays market.

When we took the mortgage, we borrowed 125% LTV so we could get on the property ladder, which means 3 years down the line, we're probably still borrowing above the normal 80-90% LTV for remortgaging. If we had the house revalued, it might be that we're getting below 80-90% LTV and therefore can get a much better deal.

If we apply for a mortgage with our old valuation, we will be offered much higher rates. Hope that made things a bit clearer!

[Deleted User]

Don't worry, the new mortgage wil be based on a new valuation, not on the old one.

Trying_to_be_good

The old valuation is now irrelevant, so forget about it! As others have said, any new lender will do their own valuation (and potentially charge for it unless its fees-free) as they're only interested in what the property's worth now.

Estate agents will give you an idea of the current value, but make sure they're giving you a 'what it'll sell for' price, not a 'what we'd market it for' aspiration. The new mortgage lender will use a surveyor to value the property, which may or may not involve them needing access to your home.