LMI refund if refinancing.

[Spectre]

For all you know the place could come in at 80% on completion and you have no issue.
Then again it could come in where the improvements & granny flat add little value.

Unfortunately for most bankwest wont do upfront valuations but no reason you cant use another lender as a guide.

From the sounds of things the entire project costs still arent measured up 100% and its only in a discussion stage. If this is correct then it makes things tricky when we as the broker are trying to get whats being done and we dont have the total costs to pass along to the valuer...

I'd get a valuation done before doing anything. Basically any build or reno we do we get the valuation done upfront with no outstanding bits on the project.

Also if you know you were going to build a granny flat on the house when you bought it but did you have plans/quotes done at the time as well?

 

[maadha]

Unfortunately for most bankwest wont do upfront valuations but no reason you cant use another lender as a guide.

How would I do this?

I'd get a valuation done before doing anything. Basically any build or reno we do we get the valuation done upfront with no outstanding bits on the project.

Do you mean get a valuation done of the completed value or the current value as is now?

I have had initial plans drawn up by draftsman and his estimate is 90-95k to complete. Do I need a more formal figure from a builder?

Also if you know you were going to build a granny flat on the house when you bought it but did you have plans/quotes done at the time as well?

No quotes or any plans... You reckon I should have?

It has a 4 car garage that I hoped to convert for about 30k. However, after consulting with council, draftsman, builder and engineer it was recommended to knock down and start from scratch

 

[Aaron_C]

Never ever rely on a draftsman/architect to estimate building costs. They will be wrong 100% of the time.

 

[Spectre]

you use a lender who does upfront vals based on the as if complete figure.

Originally you were going to convert it for 30k then the draftsman says tear it down for 90k.

So go back in time... you tell the broker this and thats what they're making assumptions on - and a 30k job vs a 90k job are two different things, and you or draftsman changing things (after the settlement I presume) changes what was stated originally.

Have you considered pulling in a builder and exclude the draftsman - and ask him what the reno will cost? [I wonder if a draftsman says pull it down as they then do more work for you and their costs go up, hence its in their interest]

You see guys like Nathan Birch doing renos cheap as anything & buying houses for 90k if not less.

 

[nathank]

You can get a refund it's not guaranteed. I wouldn't be too hasty to blame the broker because LMI policy changes all the time, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad. We are all at their mercy.

Very interesting, had no idea this was even possible! is this something that the mortgage broker can negotiate with the bank before taking on the loan contracts? i ended up financing with CBA a year a go and just switched to westpac and peev'ed i burried $20k in LMI.

 

[Aaron_C]

Wow 20k in LMI...that must've been a big and high LVR loan...like I said it's not always possible to get a refund. It's not a broker-thing more at the discretion of the LMI provider.

 

[Rolf Latham]

Wow 20k in LMI...that must've been a big and high LVR loan...

Or more commonly a crossed mess of 4 little loans that would have all fallen under the 300 k LMI peg.

Im always amazed at the lenders and brokers that luv to cross and dont care they are costing their clients THOUSANDS of excess in LMI

ta
rolf

 

[Marty McDonald]

Exactly Rolf and they are not even ashamed about it. Probably some of the biggest writers too.

 

[nathank]

Wow 20k in LMI...that must've been a big and high LVR loan...like I said it's not always possible to get a refund. It's not a broker-thing more at the discretion of the LMI provider.

yer, it was it was %85 of a $1.2mil loan. Was with CBA at the time.

So, should i ask the broker to go find out if its possible since we've moved loans (about 2 months ago now)

 

[Rolf Latham]

yer, it was it was %85 of a $1.2mil loan. Was with CBA at the time.

So, should i ask the broker to go find out if its possible since we've moved loans (about 2 months ago now)

something u might want to chase your old lender about.

We used to love the WBC 85 % no lmi deal for loans like yours, alas it aint no more

Citi and ING have them even now, but there are some restrictions, which there were not with the WBC one

ta

rolf