From today NatWest is offering free home valuations to all its broker-arm customers
NatWest Intermediary Solutions has joined competitors in offering any mortgage customer the benefit of a free home valuation and cashback.
As much as a £500 cashback is available via NatWest’s dedicated intermediary business with certain products organised through a broker.
Generally, home buyers expect to pay for their lender’s valuation. This cost is based on the value and the size of the property being bought and can typically range between £150 and £1,500. An increasing number of lenders are offering mortgages with free valuation surveys and some, like NatWest Intermediary Solutions, are throwing in cashback deals.
To get a better idea of what mortgage is right for you, have a look at the Finder UK mortgage comparison page, and check out the advice you need when considering the overall cost.
According to NatWest, their latest changes are aimed at helping customers facing the expense of buying houses and to enable brokers to get access to more competitive deals. The bank is following other lenders including Barclays, who two years ago rolled out free valuations for customers taking out residential mortgages on properties valued up to £2 million.
The Mortgage Works (TMW) has also entered the race for customers, last month reducing rates on some products by as much as 0.10%, and introducing cashback deals. For example, TMW’s two-year fix on up to 80% LTV with no fee is now set at 4.69%, for either purchase or remortgage, and comes with a £1,000 cashback, a free standard valuation and no fee.
NatWest Intermediary Solutions customers who remortgage with qualifying products will receive either a £250 or £500 cashback. The former, lower offer comes with a new fee-based, two-year remortgage product at 85% Loan-To-Value (LTV), while the larger offer is bundled in with certain products offering a 90% LTV feature.
NatWest Intermediary Solutions has also adjusted some of the rates it offers. For example, in its semi-exclusive range, the 90% five-year purchase product has had 0.16% lopped off the rate, while its two-year fee-based product has been increased by 0.09%.
Buy-to-let products in the semi-exclusive and core range have also been adjusted. These changes include the bank issuing new two-year products and reducing rates in five-year products. Mark Bullard, NatWest Intermediary Solutions’ head of sales, says the free valuations and cashback strengthens what the bank has to offer.
I have a free valuation on the mortgage arranged for me by an independent advisor with NatWest. If a valuation is already done and we changed the house to buy, do we get another free valuation?
Hi Christina,
Thanks for getting in touch with Finder. I hope all is well with you. :)
Upon checking NatWest’s website, I can’t find specifically how many times you can ask for a free valuation. However, I read that the free valuation takes place over the phone where there and then, you get a free estimate. It further mentioned that they calculate your estimate using the current House Pricing Index (HPI). This means that the estimate won’t take into account any home improvement.
With this in mind, I assume that since the free estimate is done over the phone and it is an easy and fast process, then it should still be free even if you have asked more than once. However, you would only pay when you request for someone to visit your property to complete a valuation.
I would highly recommend that you directly get in touch with NatWest to confirm.
I hope this helps. Should you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach us out again.
Have a wonderful day!
Cheers,
Joshua