Editor's Picks of mortgage talk
Dear Consumer / Client,
Thank you for visiting Avenue & Co Private Finance, the independent mortgage professionals. This page covers some of the main industry topics and product highlights of the week. (The views are not intended as recommendations and should only be used as a guide).
NEW BUILD VALUATION RULES CHANGE AS OF 01.09.2008
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) is today introducing new measures to help ensure that conveyancing and valuation processes capture the true value of newly-built properties.
From today, lenders will ask builders or developers of any newly-built, converted or renovated property to complete a new ‘disclosure of incentives’ form. The aim is to ensure that any discounts or other incentives offered by developers are disclosed to the lender. This will ensure that any mortgage is granted on an accurate valuation, and help prevent fraud.
Making sure that a mortgage offer is based on the true value of the property provides more effective protection for both lenders and borrowers. This will help reinforce lenders’ confidence in the market for newly-built property, which has fallen due to recent experience of losses and frauds.
In the past, lenders have been concerned that valuation and conveyancing processes do not always capture discounts and incentives available from developers.
From today, the CML is amending its standard industry instructions to conveyancers, requiring them to get a copy of the completed disclosure of incentives form from the conveyancer acting for the developer. The CML’s initiative is supported by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Law Society of England and Wales, the Home Builders’ Federation, Homes for Scotland and the Construction Employers Federation.
Commenting on the new measures, the CML’s director general Michael Coogan said:
“These measures to reinforce confidence in the accuracy of valuations of new-build properties will help underpin this segment of the market. This is particularly important at a time of limited funding availability for house purchase transactions. If developers ensure that they are transparent, and disclose any discounts or incentives on offer to buyers, lenders’ confidence should start to return. In the meantime, recent lender experience means buyers of new-build properties will be expected to provide significant deposits so that lenders can manage their risks.”
HOUSE PRICE COMPARISONS & PROPERTY WEBSITES
WEBSITE OF THE MONTH:
Brought to you by the same people who helped revolutionise the DVD rental market with lovefilm.com, Zoopla! www.zoopla.co.uk is a property search/information site with the potential to empower the buyer/seller and waste hours of your day. Zoopla! offers immediate valuations, details of actual completion prices on properties sold after 2000, free property listings for individuals and agents, plus a few innovative features, such as 'TemptMe!' (allowing vendors and buyers to make non-binding offers) and 'AskMe!' (a community feature in which users can ask and answer questions about the local neighbourhood). It's a kind of Facebook for houses...and, like Facebook, it's addictive. You've been warned
Every estate agency has its own site but you can see them aggregated at portals such as www.rightmove.co.uk, the UK's largest, boasting details from 20,000 agent's offices. The most popular for homes priced £500,000 or more is www.primelocation.com.
www.periodproperty.co.uk is, as you can imagine, the place to find a thatched, listed or historic home, while www.propertyauctions.com lists dates and reserve prices on upcoming auctions plus tips for those bidding for the first time.
www.firstrungnow.com targets first-time buyers and has information on low cost properties for sale. Young buyers wanting to pool resources can find a co-buyer on www.sharedspaces.co.uk or www.co-buywithme.co.uk.
If you can splash the cash on a one-off property - a cave that's now a home, a disused fire station or that sought-after converted public toilet - visit www.property.org.uk/unique.
You must research a locality before you buy, and www.nestoria.com has top notch data from car parks to pubs, while www.ukvillages.co.uk is good for maps and aerial views of where your new home is.
Whatever you buy or sell, you will encounter a Home Information Pack. See what you're in for on www.homeinformationpack.gov.uk.
Which?, formerly the Consumers Association, has a guide for inexperienced buyers and sellers on www.which.co.uk, including a model contract and tips on dealing with agents. If you run into problems, complain via the Office of Fair Trading (www.oft.gov.uk) or the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (www.oea.co.uk).
Of course, with all these different types of property available, you will be please to know that Avenue & Co Private Finance are able to arrange mortgages for virtually every type of property.
I hope you have enjoyed this brief guide and look out for next months mortgage talk on buying property for your children and the various mortgages available.
The team at Avenue & Co Private Finance
COST OF ADVICE
As independent advisers, you can choose how we are paid. We usually charge an administration fee of £250 when a full mortgage application is submitted to the lender. We may on completion receive a commission from the lender. Alternatively, you can pay us a a fee of 0.5% of the loan and we will refund any commission back to you that we receive.
We adhere to the principles of treating customers fairly and if we do charge you a fee, we will put in writing to you details of any fees before commencing any work.
Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
For Self Certification/Right to Buy loans the overall cost of comparison is 10.6% APR. The actual rate available will depend on your circumstances. Ask for a personalised illustration. This APR is based on those with a clean credit history.
Commercial mortgages are not regulated or arranged by Sesame or the Financial Services Authority