"All too often borrowers who aren’t lucky enough to be sitting on significant equity stakes find it far harder than is really necessary to access the remortgage funds they need."
This goes beyond a simple question of location too. Do our homes really deliver what we need from them? And if not, what can we do about it?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this question has led to a huge jump in the amount of home improvements being carried out across the country. In some cases these may have been fairly modest, a fresh lick of paint here and there, but for others that refurbishment work has been more extensive.
This may be down to work. For plenty of people across the country, working from home for at least a portion of the week is going to be a regular fixture rather than an occasional break from the norm, and that may mean wanting to adapt the property to include a dedicated work space. After all, there’s only so long that any of us can stomach working from the dining room table or the living room sofa.
Thousands of people are planning on or have taken the opportunity to revamp and adapt their homes to ensure that they better suit their needs. It’s important that these people can find a funding solution which they are happy with.
Tapping into housing equity
Brokers will know only too well the demand for remortgages at the moment. The start of the year is often a popular time for refinancing, as so many borrowers vow to make the most of the new year impetus to get their finances into better shape. Indeed, industry figures from the CACI mortgage database show that in January this year mortgages worth £6.7bn matured, a testament to how often borrowers fix their rate at this time of year.
Remortgages can also be a really useful option for raising the funds for home improvements, particularly off the back of the house price growth we have seen. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in the 12 months to November, the typical home saw its value rise by 10%, which equates to an average of £25,000 in cash terms.
That’s money that could be put to excellent use in adapting an existing property, so long as the homeowner is able to tap into it.
Putting barriers in place
Unfortunately, some lenders have taken a rather limited view when it comes to remortgaging.
All too often borrowers who aren’t lucky enough to be sitting on significant equity stakes find it far harder than is really necessary to access the remortgage funds they need.
At Mansfield Building Society we are committed to operating differently, which has led to a revamping of our remortgage range, including hiking the maximum LTV up to 90% and including debt consolidation for home improvement.
In other words, if the homeowner has spent on loans and credit cards in order to build a new home office, for example, then Mansfield is more than happy to consider it. In effect debt consolidation for home improvements stand separate from debt consolidation for other purposes.
Viewing clients as individuals
One of the complaints that we often hear from brokers is that lenders are often too rigid with their criteria, almost looking for reasons why clients fall outside of their strict rules because they’re merely interested in simple volumes.
At Mansfield we put great stock in the personal way that we handle applications, allowing our underwriters to truly get to grips with a case so that they are best placed to determine whether it’s something we can help with.
This approach means that we can take on cases, which might otherwise grind to a halt as a result of being classed as too complex by other lenders.
