A bit of background:
Our client was looking to buy a home and after searching for a while he managed to find the ideal place. After contacting the estate agents to enquiry about the property he was advised that there was a lot of interest, and he would need to put forward a good offer to stand a chance of being considered by the seller. After some deliberation and being pushed for as high an offer as possible, our client put forward an offer of £350,000 which the seller was happy to accept. Luckily this offer was also comfortably affordable for the client and with the mortgage lender affordability too.
“Quickly approved”
The mortgage application went in instantaneously and the loan was quickly approved subject to valuation, meaning that all the mortgage documents and application had been assessed by underwriters and they were happy to lend the requested loan amount if the property valued up to £350,000 by a certified and accredited property valuer. When the valuation came back however, the valuer disagreed with the £350,000 value of the property and instead valued it at £340,000, £10,000 less than the agreed sale price. As the valuer was a trusted partner on the lender’s panel, they accepted the valuation of £340,000 rather than £350,000 and they decided that they would offer a smaller loan size than originally applied for meaning that the client would have to make up the difference.
“Dream home”
Our client was absolutely in love with the property and was understandably frustrated with the valuation however he was more than willing to do whatever he had to, to make the purchase happen as it really was his dream home. Not wanting our client to be out of pocket, we knew that there had to be another solution. Oportfolio senior mortgage and protection advisor Jade Pinkerton took it upon herself to help the client find a solution.
What did we do to help?
Jade had a thorough conversation with the client and talked him through his options and choices. Jade advised him that his best option was to go back to the estate agents and seller and use this down valuation as a bargaining tool. Jade helped our client structure a strong argument to go back to the estate agent with. The client would say that if the property has been valued at less than £350,000 then he wants to pay a fair price for it and buy it for the lower amount as clearly the property was being priced too high by the seller in the first place. Our client, like many buyers, didn’t realise that he could re-negotiate the price after the offer has been accepted so was willing to pay over the valuation if he needed to.
Happy Clients:
After we helped the client make a very compelling argument and after securing a mortgage so quickly for the client, incredibly he managed to get the seller to accept a £10,000 discount on the property, purchasing the property for £340,000 meaning that he did not have to put in any more money himself! As a direct result of the price reduction our client not only managed to get his dream home, but it also meant that he would have less stamp duty to pay, a lower mortgage and subsequently lower monthly mortgage payments. Our client was over the moon with the result and extremely grateful for all the help Jade and Oportfolio had given him.
If you or someone you know is looking to purchase a property and want to see how Oportfolio can help you, please give us a call on 02088771169 to speak to a member of our team.