Options after a refurb

I bought a property early last year. For the location and type of property I think we got a more than decent deal on it. It was a bit of a shabby place which helped us secure a good deal at the time.

Long story short though, on moving in we had a huge problem with a leak. Anyway, some insurance and legal wrangling, but most of the repairs and renovations were thankfully covered by insurance/indemnity and we used the opportunity of tearing down walls etc to carry out a bit of a ground floor remodel which we’d have never undertaken under normal circumstances. After a year of hell we came out the other end in a pretty good shape with a nice fully refurbed house and a much better internal layout.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the property market and as we live in a development I can get a good sense of what like for like properties are going for in various degrees of furbishment. I’ve seen properties that are similar to what ours looks like now going for as much as £40k to £50k more than we paid. I’d even argue that our refurb puts our property ahead of most of these and we have other additional benefits such as aspect (and a bathroom window) that some of these don’t benefit from.

So the optimist in me thinks my property is probably worth at least £40k more than I paid but maybe even up to £60k and beyond.

My question is, what are my options? I don’t want to sell yet. But now the property is worth more do I have scope to play around with the mortgage? First time buyer so a total novice when it comes to these things. I just want to make sure I’m maximising the potential post refurb.

Comments

  • ACG
    ACG Posts: 23,661
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post I've helped Parliament
    Forumite
    Assuming you took out a 2 year fixed rate, you can remortgage (it may need to be to a new lender to take account of the increased value), they will base the rate on the new LTV/new value. Which will potentially mean you see a drop in rates.

    Some lenders will base the value on the purchase price plus general inflation in your area but chances are that will not help you significantly.

    If you are in a 3 year fix or longer, you would probably need to pay an early repayment charge to get out of the deal which will likely mean you are best holding fire.
    I am a Mortgage Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.8K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.4K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 606.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.7K Life & Family
  • 247.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards