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This article does not constitute advice. Professional advice should be taken prior to acting on any part of it. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debt secured on it.
Q: What type of valuation should I have?
Answer:
A mortgage valuation is a superficial assessment of a property’s worth containing information about any issues that might affect the value of it. Valuations are required by lenders during the mortgage application process to confirm that the property satisfies the value of the loan. However, these reports are only available to the lenders conducting the valuation. If you need to know the value of your real estate for another purpose, you have two options: a HomeBuyer report or a Building Survey.
A HomeBuyer report provides an in depth account of the overall condition of the property, alerting you of any potential structural problems. These reports tend to include a valuation of the property as well so you may be able to leverage a lower price if your lender’s value doesn’t match up. If a valuation isn’t included, then you can use the results to highlight work that needs to be done during negotiation to get the price down.
A Building Survey is the most thorough investigation of your property’s state of affairs and reports the results in a way that helps you to prioritise projects and provides advice for dealing with repairs and other maintenance issues. Most homebuyers won’t necessarily need the level of detail you’ll find in a building survey, but if you’re working with bigger or older properties, or searching for a ‘fixer upper’, this survey may be beneficial.
Which type of valuation you’ll need on your home or building really depends on the reason you need to know a property’s worth.
Dental and Medical Financial Services’ mortgage broker will be able to advise on the right survey for you and locate the best company to perform the valuation once you’ve made your choice.
Contact us if you need expert help and support through the house buying process.