Current mortgage term is coming to an end so am looking at remortgage options. All will require a valuation, the question is will the valuation be effected by the cosmetic condition of the house? Do I need to touch up chipped paint, tidy the garden, etc? Will that make any difference at all or will the bulk of the valuation be based on overall condition and market comparables?

they won’t come in if its inside you’re worried about. Its possible that a surveyor may just take a look at the prices around you on the web, and as long as your house is standard, and you’re not asking for a massive amount they possibly wouldn’t bother leaving the office..

google streetview

Our last valuation did involve a visit. Quick check inside as well. Valued at 10k less than we had it on the Market for! Cosmetic things won’t affect the valuation!

Cosmetic things won’t affect the valuation!

Agreed, but a pot of coffee on the stove could actually add thousands and get you a quick sale, if you so desire. 😀

cheers for the input. I won’t worry too much then about the little things then.

We have just remortgaged (HSBC) and the surveyor did want to come inside and did look at the general condition ie he commented that basically every room had been recently refurbished to a high standard.

Asked how old the central heating system was, how old the electrics were, did we have certificates, was the building work we had done been done under building regs etc etc.

I think lenders are getting more and more picky these days, however we were also asking for a further advance of £20k to pay back parents who lent us money to do some building work.

We just remortgaged with YBS and wern’t even aware that the survey had been done. Don’t know if they came along and looked at the outside of the house or what – but they certainly didn’t come inside.

Maybe it was because we valued our house quite a bit higher than the price we paid for it 3 years ago…

cheers Dunc, that is good to know. We are also looking at HSBC and have done quite a bit of work (new kitchen, pointing, gutters, flooring, carpet, every surface repainted, etc.) so we will be asking for about 6% more than what we paid 3 years ago. Doesn’t seem like much, but it will put us in a much better LTV bracket and hence lower monthly payment.