When you are looking for Bridging Finance are you happy when a lender doesn’t want a valuation?
The answer from most of our clients is yes, as it’s a cost saving and makes the bridging finance process quicker. But as we’ve seen plenty of examples of why you should always get one.
If you already own the property there is an argument that you don’t need one as you should know the property well enough to identify any major issues.
On a purchase we strongly recommend you get one and preferably your own survey.
We’ve seen properties that have structural issues, Japanese Knotweed in the garden and being next to a sub-station. All of which the BTL lenders who provide the repayment route for the bridge don’t like.
All these issues were there at the point of purchase and all the clients went direct to lenders who offered a no valuation product and hadn’t visited the property.
None of these properties would have been purchased at the price they were, if these issues were known.
A valuer going out would have identified all these problems which would have given them time to pull out or renegotiate the price.
Yes it reduces your initial costs but at what price to the project and your profits?