So it’s time to get your remortgage underway and you know that you are going to be asked how much is your property worth by the mortgage lender. However, you might be wondering if you need an official valuation in order to remortgage your property.
Do you need to get your house valued to remortgage?
The good news is you don’t need to get a mortgage valuation or your property valued prior to getting a remortgage. You will, however, need to know roughly what the market value is before you start your remortgage.
In this guide, we will show a couple of alternatives that you can use to learn a pretty accurate valuation of your property without having to pay for it to be valued.
How does remortgaging work? < Learn the full process here
How to get a house valuation for remortgage
When you apply for a remortgage there are a couple of initial details that the mortgage lender will need to know to be able to give a proposed remortgage value
If you have recently moved into the property in the last 2 – 4 years this is quite a straightforward exercise. A good starting point is over the last few years house prices have increased by roughly 5% each year.
You could, therefore, multiply each year by 5% and perhaps add a little on top if you have carried out any home improvements.
If you have carried out any large home improvement projects on your property, for example, putting in new kitchens or bathrooms or perhaps having an extension done this can be a little more tricky.
You would like to think that your property will have increased in value by at least the amount you have spent however this is not always the way.
Decoration and smaller projects do tend to increase the property’s value by at least the amount you have spent and quite often more.
Unfortunately larger projects like extensions and putting rooms in the loft do not tend to increase the value to such a degree. Sometimes it doesn’t even increase it by as much as you have spent on the home improvement itself.
Use online valuation tools
It can be wise to see what is on the market in your area. Go to Zoopla or Rightmove and see if there are any comparable properties on the market. If you can find recently sold property online similar to yours then this will give you an initial idea of how much your property value.
If you are unable to find any comparable properties and their agreed sale price then this can be a little more difficult.
There are a few websites that can be very useful for all property valuations. They have local house price data that can give you the current property prices as well as the historic value of the property.
This will show you every house that has sold down your road and the price paid. These websites get their information from the land registry and therefore are very accurate. A good thing to know is that they do not tend to show any houses that have sold in the past 6 months as it takes this long for the land registry to update their information.
A brilliant example of one of these websites is one called Mouseprice.
Use an Estate Agent
This one is a bit more tricky as the local estate agents will give you the value of the property to be put on the market.
This will not be a mortgage valuation and is likely to be inflated. It is worth noting that your local Estate agent is not likely to want to give free valuations so you can have a value of the property for remortgaging purposes.
Take an educated guess
At the end of the day, it’s not the end end of the world if the estimated valuation of your property is slightly out. When the new lender carries out a mortgage valuation you will then get an accurate idea of its true value.
Does it cost to get your house valued when remortgaging?
When remortgaging most mortgage lenders including a remortgage with your current mortgage lender will offer a free remortgage property mortgage valuation. The valuer will know the house prices in your area and they carry out a mortgage valuation which usually takes less than half an hour as there is no mortgage valuation cost.
Lenders offer a mortgage valuation for free as an incentive to attract you as a new customer. There is sometimes a problem with solely relying on this type of mortgage valuation.
The problem is that it could be quite a good way into the remortgage process before you find out you got it completely wrong. This can even sometimes leave short of time to change the direction of the remortgage.
What happens if the property is downvalued?
A down valuation occurs when the lender’s mortgage valuation report comes back with a property price lower than expected. If the lender has carried out a desktop mortgage valuation you have the right to ask for a physical property valuation. You will then see in the mortgage valuation report the reason for the down valuation.
If the down valuation was by your existing lender the next step will be to move to an alternative lender to see what they feel your property value is.
What other surveys are there?
As well as mortgage valuations some lenders will offer to carry out more in-depth surveys usually at an extra cost. These include Homebuyer report, Building Survey, and a full Structural Survey.
It is also possible to get chartered surveyors to give you an independent homebuyer report, building survey, and full structural survey if the mortgage lender doesn’t offer these.
Obtaining a remortgage valuation with a mortgage broker
A broker will have plenty of experience in remortgaging and will also know the property valuation of properties in your neighbourhood. Get mortgage advice from a broker who will have access to lots of software that will be able to get a sound mortgage valuation of your property.
TIP: Banks and building societies offer different rates depending on your loan to value (LTV). Therefore getting the valuation correct is very important as it could lead to getting a higher interest rate and can even end up costing you thousands of pounds.
Learn when to remortgage here.
Do mortgage brokers charge for their services?
Mortgage brokers usually charge a fee between £500-£1000.
Don’t Panic! There is also such a thing as a fee-free mortgage broker. All mortgage brokers get paid directly by the different banks and building societies however there are some that do not see the need to charge an additional fee!
How do I find a NO-FEE mortgage broker?
Start by asking your friends and family who they use when they remortgage. If this is not fruitful then you need to ask our friend, Google!
Google ‘independent no fee broker’. This will give you a list of brokers and mortgage advisers near you that may be able to help with your remortgage.
Now the next bit is important! Grab a coffee and spend ten minutes finding a broker that ticks all the following attributes. Not only a free broker but also a good one! A mortgage adviser that really looks after their customers. The easiest way to do this is to have a look at their website. Are they modern and do they communicate with a modern app like WhatsApp?
Does the broker have ‘raving fans’ as clients? Look at the Trust Pilot and Google reviews. There should be lots of them and they should be 5 stars. Take time to read a few. Do the reviews read really well?
What else can a broker do for me when valuing a property to be remortgaged?
A broker can make remortgaging a lot smoother and easier for you!
A broker will be able to search the whole mortgage market including your current mortgage lender to get a better interest rate and keep those monthly mortgage payments as low as possible having access to thousands of mortgage deals.
With over 14,000 different rates to choose from and over 100 mortgage providers, this could be quite a task if you were to do it yourself! If you mortgage earlier, raise capital you will feel the benefits of the mortgage deal quicker.
Yes, the interest rate is important however so is paying for mortgage costs as little as possible. It is very easy to pay Booking fees, Arrangement fees, mortgage valuation survey fees, and legal fees. This may increase your overall monthly mortgage payments. It is very possible to find a mortgage rate and deal with all these for FREE!
Your broker will not only use in house mortgage calculators to find the best deal but they will also be able to find a mortgage lender that offering:
- FREE mortgage valuation survey
- NO Legal fees
- NO Mortgage Product Fees!
- Save yourself hundreds if not thousands of pounds.
- Sometimes it is possible to get a little cashback thrown in too!
All of the above means that you can remortgage not only for free but you can make a small profit as well as massive savings made on getting a great interest rate.
Once the broker has found you the perfect deal they will submit your application to the mortgage provider. They will arrange for a lender’s mortgage valuation to be carried out and don’t worry if it comes in less than planned they will be able to help you with this.
The financial consultant at the mortgage brokers will then liaise with your conveyancer and mortgage lender until the mortgage offer is received. Our team will then see your remortgage right the way through to completion.
The answer is always YesCanDo…
YesCanDo Money is a family-run mortgage broker in Hampshire on the south coast of England UK. They provide FREE mortgage advice and support as well as other financial services to the whole of the United Kingdom.
YesCanDo Money are independent mortgage brokers and also a free broker! This means you don’t pay a single penny to use our highly rated service!
Sound too good to be true? Believe the hype! Have a look at our hundreds of 5 star reviews on Google and Trustpilot. Customer satisfaction is very important to us and you will see this reflected in our amazing reviews.
Amazing mortgage guidance backed with great communication is really important during a remortgage and that is why our clients find WhatApp really helpful.
If you would like to use our services, just want a chat about mortgage valuations or what you can do if you have had a down valuation then give us a call.
Learn about the remortgage conveyancing process.
