Renovation and refurbishment provide property owners with a chance to increase the value of their properties. Whether it be replacing old fixtures with modern furnishings, looking at ‘bathrooms Camberley‘, undertaking an extension, or improving the environmental sustainability of a property – homeowners have a wide range of options to choose from when it comes to renovation and refurbishment projects.
There is a love and hate relationship between home improvements projects and the UK. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the desire of many homeowners to do renovation and refurbishment projects, whether it is their buy-to-let properties or primary residence. There was a survey done by NatWest that showed three in five homeowners would consider remortgaging their homes for a home improvement project.
As someone working closely with investors, brokers, and buy-to-let landlords, I strongly believe we are about to see a renovation and refurbishment revolution that will result in improvement of standard properties in the market. This is also going to help the country with its post-pandemic recovery efforts.
Sparking demand for home improvement projects
You might be asking yourself why are homeowners are looking to do home improvement projects while we are still in a global pandemic that has no end in sight. In the real sense, the COVID-19 has caused the rise in demand for home improvement projects.
The UK has been strictly adhering to social distance measures since 23rd March 2020. Many offices and commercial workspaces were closed temporarily because of the lockdown. This means a lot of employees were forced to work from their homes. While there were some initial challenges when this started, the transitioning from office working to remote working was an eye-opener for some businesses.
It became clear for many businesses that workers could easily perform on their jobs without having to be at the office. This has led to some business leader questioning whether they should look at downsizing their offices because of remote working because it can become the norm even after the pandemic.
Market Financial Solutions is a bridging lender and has been able to closely work with homeowners looking to do renovation and refurbishment projects, whether to extend their property or comply with HMO standards. Our Business Development Managers have been having conversations with homeowners, and it has become clear that most of them are having a hard time getting access to finance they can use for these projects.
Banks have adopted stricter criteria when lending out, and this has caused the applications to take longer. The consequences of this can be significant, especially when it comes to minimising potential construction costs and meeting deadlines. If you are thinking about a home improvement project, you need to start by ensuring that you have sorted out the finance first.
This can involve looking beyond the limited loan products on the high stress and looking at bespoke loan products from specialist finance providers. Specialist finance providers are different from mainstream lenders because they can provide you with a loan that has been tailored for your individual needs. Such loans are structure taking into consideration the construction deadlines.