How do I get my house valued for remortgage?

Taking out a mortgage on a house is a big financial commitment, but you don’t have to stick with the same deal or the same lender forever.

Remortgaging is when you move from one mortgage deal to another. When you remortgage, you can stick with your current lender or move to a new one if they’re offering a better deal.

Like you would for your broadband or energy provider, you should shop around to make sure you get the best deal possible. To do this, you could go directly to a broker or use a price comparison website to see what deals are available.

There are multiple reasons a person might choose to remortgage. For example, they might want:

• a better mortgage deal
• the option to make overpayments
• to move from interest-only payments to repayments
• to take advantage of low-interest rates.

Below you’ll find everything you need to know about the remortgage valuation process.  

Check sold property prices online

Before you remortgage, you’ll need to find out the overall value of your property so you can work out how much equity you have. Equity is the value of how much of your house you own.

To gauge how much your property is worth, check the sold property prices online in your specific area. Use property sites such as Rightmove or Zoopla, as they’ll provide you with the sold prices from the past few years.

Rightmove

On Rightmove, all you need to do is enter your postcode, and it’ll bring up a list of properties sold in your area and how much they’ve sold for. You can also filter by property type, such as a flat or a house.

The great thing about Rightmove is that if a property is (or was) listed on there, you’ll be able to see photographs, floor plans and information on any refurbishments. You’ll also have the option to look at the property using Google Street View.

Zoopla

With Zoopla, you’ll be able to see photographs, floor plans and descriptions. You’ll also be able to compare the properties’ sold prices with old advert prices.

By working out the average price of a property like yours in your area, you can estimate how much yours is worth.

To work out the equity in your property, you'd then take your estimate and subtract the amount you have left to pay on your mortgage. The number you have left is an estimate of your equity.

Track national property prices

To work out whether it’s a good time in general to remortgage, keep an eye on the national property prices as well.

You can do this by using the government’s website. This is where all the Land Registry’s official data regarding property sales is stored.

You could also use the Nationwide House Price Calculator to track property trends.

The Nationwide House Price Calculator's based on the Nationwide house index. The results show the general movement in property prices throughout regions of the UK rather than specific towns or cities. It only considers the price of a typical property in that area, meaning it wouldn’t consider any renovations.

For an accurate valuation of your property, you should contact your local estate agent or a surveyor.

Make home repairs

Once you’ve settled on a lender, they’ll organise their valuation to check your property is adequate security for the new mortgage.

Many people remortgage their property to pay for home improvements to increase the value of the property. However, if you're able to, you should try and make any home repairs or renovations before your property is valued. 

By doing this, your property is likely to be valued higher, making it easier to get a better interest rate on your remortgage.

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