subject: A Few Starting Points To Help You Increase Your Properties Valuation To The Maximum [print this page] New figures have been littering newspapers, magazines and websites recently showing that the house buying market appears to be back on the rise, which is extremely welcome news for many people who have wanted to relocate or move house and been unable in recent months due to the financial crisis.
Many local and national businesses are reporting increases in numbers of house sales, as well as increases in the number of surveyors who are being instructed to conduct surveys for home buyers.
Whilst instructions and enquiries may be up, the market still remains difficult for many. Thanks to falling house prices, many homeowners are in a position where their home is worth less than they paid for it and many people are in negative equity - where the outstanding mortgage is higher than the value of the property. If this is the case, improving your home can be one way of increasing the value of your home.
In order to raise the cash necessary to undertake home improvements, many homeowners consider a remortgage. With more and more lenders regaining their appetite for lending, remortgage deals have improved over recent months and a remortgage can be a great way of releasing extra cash to refurbish or redecorate your home.
Cost: While you want someone local, that doesn't mean to go for the lowest denominator, in other words the cheapest solicitor you can find. You will want someone you can trust and who will put the hours in to get the job done, and in most cases the cost reflects the quality. Talk to a number of firms and treat it as an interview to see what services they will offer during the process and pick the one that suits your requirements.
Converting the attic into an additional bedroom can add thousands onto the property value. And if you make it an en suite room then this will add even more value and will make your property more sellable.
You can also create additional bedrooms by converting garages, or having an extension built onto the property. Extensions are also a great way to increase the size of small kitchens or other rooms, which can potentially increase the value of your home by up to 10%.
Do make sure that when you are planning your projects that you don't do anything that would make the property less saleable, such as adding new bedrooms, but leaving the kitchen very small or out of date. Ensure that you address the needs for existing rooms before creating additional bedrooms.
If it's a medium to large firm of solicitors, make sure you ask who you'll be dealing with most of the time, will it be the less experienced junior partner or the guy running the show. When you meet the solicitor it could be the head of the firm/department who then will just assign the case out, so double check who you're actually getting to avoid confusion down the line and that the service arrangements are clear for both parties.
Make sure that you look into the entire cost of the remortgage too, as you might get a very attractive interest rate, but this doesn't necessarily mean you'll save any money if the lenders adds huge fees to the loan. If in doubt, use a mortgage broker to help find the right remortgage for you.
