By It is safe to say this year has not been quite what anyone anticipated. The expectations at the beginning of 2020 seemed to be higher than any New Year before it…
Perhaps this was the desire to finish the decade on a high or the need to look forward following the General Election and the start of the ‘Boris Bounce’; either way, the current global circumstances have been unprecedented.
It is also true that the pandemic has created an array of uncertainty, stalling whole industries. It has become a time of survival and building relationships to find new ways to do business.
In the finance industry, many lenders are not currently accepting new business largely due to challenges with funding lines and redemptions. Furthermore, valuers have been unable to inspect properties, solicitors have encountered problems executing legal documents and there were additional challenges with land registry. This has left property professionals wondering about how
to secure funds for their investment projects.
At Roma Finance we have used this period to get to the forefront of technology and can now offer AVM and Desktop Valuation bridging products to enable landlords and property professionals to continue to grow their portfolios and take on new projects. We also have the ability to lend thanks to new technology allowing us to use photos taken by the customer as an alternative to a physical valuation.
That is the short-term funding sorted…. what about the longer-term plan…?
Buy-to-let lenders are returning to the market providing more choice and peace of mind. It is certainly understandable, that investors may want the security of a solid exit strategy when taking on a refurbishment project. There are only a handful of lenders on the market that offer a bridge-to-term product.
These solutions offer borrowers 3 big advantages. Firstly, the knowledge they will not be stuck on an expensive bridging loan, secondly, these products remove the risk of different surveyors acting for different lenders having different opinions of value and thirdly, the switch from bridge to term can be done within days.
What now?
Now that the property market is open with estate agents, valuers and builders’ merchants being allowed to work, I expect that the auction houses will also get busier, the property market will start to regenerate and most probably it will become a buyer’s market creating great opportunities for borrowers.
Many lenders have shut their doors, possibly forever, but in a counter-cyclical market, that’s when the real deals are done and it’s this environment that will allow customers to create wealth.
Contact us for more information about how Roma can support you on 0161 817 7481 or email enquiries@romafinance.co.uk
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