Low re-valuation on refurb project

Low re-valuation on refurb project

11:25 AM, 29th March 2015, About 9 years ago 20

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Last February I purchased my first buy to let property, a 2 bedroom mid terrace house in Lowestoft. The house had been owned by a lady for the last 58 years and was practically uninhabitable. Nevertheless, The Mortgage Works valued it at £67,500 and agreed to a 75% mortgage with no conditions of repair. Low re-valuation on refurb project

I purchased the house for £65,000 and then fully renovated the property and let it out at above the minimum rent required by The Mortgage Works.

I have now, 18 months later, got The Mortgage Works to revalue the property so I could get a further advance and recycle my deposit for my next property purchase. However, to my surprise, the house has been valued at just £70,000!

I just can’t understand this as a similar property on the same terrace sold £72,500 18 months ago and is smaller. There has been at least an 8% price rise in this area since then and comparable properties are currently selling for around £85,000.

Has anybody had a similar experience and how did the issue get resolved ?

Thanks

Neil


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Comments

John

22:00 PM, 30th March 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "money manager" at "30/03/2015 - 20:29":

For £10k that was mostly materials and some paid labour (boiler fitted and sparky), but i do all the donkey work for them.

You save a lot if you can do all the building work yourself. I got my best ever buy on this house though. I fitted a beautiful kitchen which was £40k 12 yrs ago. Cost me £200 from this family who were more than happy i was taking it away. I ended up selling the dish washer and extractor hood, so the kitchen cost me zero in the end.

It all took 6 months work though and my wages are now tied up in the capital appreciation.

Rob Crawford

16:54 PM, 31st March 2015, About 9 years ago

Just received a valuation of a 5 bed HMO. Purchased as a 3 bed 18 months ago for £205K spent £9K on refurb (this excludes my labour). Rental value is £20.5K pa after costs before tax. The valuer obviously based his assumptions on square metres that he matched to another five bed locally to reach a valuation of £250K, the same as the sale price of the other property despite it being located on a main road and no privacy due to a bridge spanning the back garden. If I sold it I would market it for £280K. I am in an area where HMO's are scarce and I own 50% of those. I wonder if it was valued as an HMO business or family residence? Probably the later in which case I know an HMO refurb can reduce a property's value. Still it achieved my aim of a re-mortgage 🙂

Colin McNulty

13:07 PM, 4th April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Rob Crawford" at "31/03/2015 - 16:54":

I have the worst story of revaluations ever:

House bought virtually derelict for £45k. Spent £55k on it turning it into an all en-suite 5 bed HMO, fully let with with ASTs showing £24k pa rent. Had it valued for The Mortgage Works' HMO product last month and the Country Wide surveyor valued it as...

Drum roll please....

£0.

That's right, zero pounds valuation. Work that one out!

money manager

14:18 PM, 4th April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Colin McNulty" at "04/04/2015 - 13:07":

As per my earlier post, a demonstration of the sheer incompetence of filling in the forms.

JohnDA JohnDA

16:44 PM, 4th April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Rob Crawford" at "29/03/2015 - 12:28":

Rob, I wish that all buy-2-let applicants produced such information for the mortgage valuer. I often value forTMW and hardly any applicants produce this to assist, consequently I have to make a valuation and apply a judgement.
A Mortgage Valuer.

18:46 PM, 4th April 2015, About 9 years ago

I had a very similar experience with TMW and Countrywide, valuing at £95k after a full refurb, vs. a Colleys valuation of £110k. Bought semi-derelict for £78k 6 months previously. This allied with all kinds of administrative incompetences and unwillingness to sort the problem out. I'd not use them again willingly.

10:12 AM, 5th April 2015, About 9 years ago

Oh, and they do have an appeal process - if you can provide at least 2 nearby comparables from the last 3 months they will reconsider.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

10:34 AM, 5th April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "JohnDA JohnDA" at "04/04/2015 - 16:44":

Hello John and welcome to Property118

I have started a new discussion thread so that our members can share their tips on how to make a valuers life much easier to arrive at the correct figures.

It's all very well people sharing their tales of woe but post such as the one by Rob Crawford are far more constructive as I'm sure you will agree.

The new discussion thread, which will hopefully be even more informative than this one, is linked below.

I hope that you, Rob and several others will post comments.
.

JohnDA JohnDA

18:18 PM, 5th April 2015, About 9 years ago

Thank you Mark, I'm trying not to put my head to much above the 'valuation parapet' but I don't mind contributing a Morgage Valuers view. It is quite usual for lenders to instuct one of the big panel valuer firms, such as Colleys or Countrywide, who, if they don't have their own valuer available within the restricted 'turn-around' time, demanded b y the lenders, pass it to a secondary firm, such as I do work for, as a zero-hours indpendent sub contractor valuer. The valuation fee paid by the borrower is skimmed by the lender, the panel valuer, and my instructing company, before I get a share, sometimes as low as £50 for a 'Drive-By'; consequently, you may well appreciate, that although valuers, such as I, set out to offer a fully professionmal service; the incentive, after bearing our Professional Indemnity Insurance premiums, can be a little unsympathetic, when the supporting information on the property is basic. I do however, enjoy what I do.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

19:39 PM, 5th April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "JohnDA " at "05/04/2015 - 18:18":

I've heard that many times from many values John, which is why I started the new thread. I'm hoping that as well as landlords sharing tips, values such as you could also advise landlords on what they can do to help themselves.
.

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