Home Buyers / Mortgage Reports

[Dorset Treeman]

Good evening.

 

I am trying to do some self learning for Home Buyers and Mortgage Reports with the hope that I will be able to add these to my repertoire at some point in the future. In an ideal world I will go on a recognised course but as with many who live at the extremities of the country, I find that the course is always so far away so I would end up losing 3 days of work with travelling for a 1 day course, plus fuel and accommodation etc so I am trying to do a bit of research into it myself but haven't had much joy. The reality is I will find a way to teach myself, create a mock report based on a local property (to make it as realistic as possible) and I think the CAS do a service where you can pay a fee and someone will critique your report.

 

So ..... does anyone have a template that I could look at or even better, an example of one that they could send me? Names could be removed to keep confidentiality.

Also can anyone offer links to the best place to get the geology with a bit of guidance on how it can be used? For example, is there anywhere that lists the expected shrink/swell potential of different types of clays (local ones to me are Kimmeridge and Sandsfoot and although I know they are not the worst I don't know anything other than that) or is the only way to take samples on site and send to a lab?

 

We touched on this subject on my FdSc Arb a few years back but not enough for me to be confortable with doing them. With it being distance learning too, theres only so much you can learn without actually doing one, so that is what I would like to have a go at doing.

 

Any help/advice would be really greatfully appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Alan

[Jon Heuch]

Well.....as one of the people who has spent the past year reviewing the syllabus and updating the course handouts I hope you would not offer to provide services without getting some evidence that you are competent to provide them (?)

 

Providing a "template" report will not tell you much about what is required and why you need to be careful about what you say in such a report. As for geology and risk you can start off with the British Geological Viewer at the BGS website and  you should be able to get them to produce a risk profile for your site (£10?); alternatively/additionally, try the iGeology and/or the mySoil apps. Landmark do something similar.......but the big question for you is what are you going to do with this information?

 

As for the location of the course this is pretty much on a demand basis - if there is enough demand the course can be held anywhere........find a suitable location, drum up some support and attendees & hey presto the course can be on your doorstep!

[Dorset Treeman]

Hello Jon,

Thank you for your reply. I have PM'd you asking about the courses.

Maybe my OP wasn't clear so to clarify, I am looking at creating a mortgage report and will get someone to critique it as part of my learning process, be it the CAS or a consultant suitably trained and experienced in this area. I might create one for my own house or any address where I can access the land just to make it as real as possible.

As far as I was aware, attendance on a specific course was not a pre-requisite to providing this service (please correct me if I'm wrong) as some junior consultants who work for a firm would likely learn from more experienced colleagues and then provide this service so I was just wondering if anyone on here would be able to start me in the right direction.

I did a similar thing with BS5837 surveys/reports and a consultant well known on here kindly tutored me and then guided me through my first few that I completed for paying customers.

I have no intention of offering something I am unable to provide satisfactorily until I know I have the knowledge and/or support in place. In an ideal world I would attend a course as it would make life easier but as I've explained, logistics makes this difficult/expensive so I am looking at alternatives in case a course does not become available within a couple of hours drive from me in the not too distant future.

I hope that gives a little more background and I hope it hasn't put anyone off helping in this format. Any pointers such as the Geology information Jon provided is much appreciated or even people's experience of their first few mortgage reports and what they learned/found useful would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Alan

[Jon Heuch]

Going on the course is a beginning - it provides the basic information, shares the pitfalls, highlights the risks and I hope provides you with a greater level of confidence about what you are doing; the new course provides a means of accreditation - it hasn't worked its way through yet so we are still trialling it.....but it's a lot more thorough than it was.

 

Do you need to go on the course to provide such reports? Of course not - there is no minimum qualification for any arboricultural report, & you don't need to have insurance either. If you don't have insurance you are much less likely to be pursued for damages too....so there is something to think about! The lack of minimum standards in providing arboricultural advice is a subject that is "hot" at the moment as there are a lot of duff reports out there.

 

The question is are you being professional? Do you know what you might get wrong, for starters? Will client's suffer.......we simply don't know....and will the trickle of professional indemnity claims develop into something more significant?

 

 

[Dorset Treeman]

Hello John, if you could let me know of future course dates/locations that would be appreciated.

Meanwhile if anyone is interested in attending the mortgage report course in the south/south-west, please make yourself known and we may be able to get one more local.

I have registered an interest in the Treelife course too but they don't have any dates/locations confirmed for future courses.

In the meantime, if anyone can offer any relevant useful bedtime reading ...

[Chris at eden]

Hi

 

I have done both the Tree Life course and the CAS one which sounds a bit daft but there is definitely value in doing both so I would certainly recommend this approach.  In terms of geology as John said start with the BGS viewer and go from there.  They are very helpful and don't tend to mind if you email for clarification if you are unsure although I don't suppose they would be happy if you did it constantly. 

 

Didn't know they did a risk profile though for a fee - John, do you have a contact for this? 

 

Regards

 

Chris.  

[Gary Prentice]

Chris, I think that the risk profile Jon mentions may only be available via the phone app. For a small fee you get subsidence, land slip, running sand and a couple of others as a pdf.

 

it might be downloadable for PC or Mac, I’ve never looked.

 

 

Edit: I’ve looked for the mortgage course in the CAS website but they don’t seem to be offering much currently in the way of courses. Does anyone know if this is likely to change?

Edited February 28, 2018 by Gary Prentice

[Marula]

Does anyone actually get that many mortgage report requests it warrants all the hassle of traveling for a days course?
It's certainly not a survey I'm asked for.

[Jon Heuch]

1 hour ago, Chris at eden said:

Didn't know they did a risk profile though for a fee - John, do you have a contact for this? 

It's a bit of a moving target.....things are in development & BGS would prefer you to go through a third party (who currently doesn't exist) who would take out a licence with the BGS and take away the administrative hassle. A cost of as low as £3 was mentioned the last time I talked to them (before Xmas)......until that third party is available (& who would if BGS is willing to offer the same for £3) it's a little up in the air.

 

I would make contact with them and see what they have to say.

[Chris at eden]

58 minutes ago, Marula said:

Does anyone actually get that many mortgage report requests it warrants all the hassle of traveling for a days course?
It's certainly not a survey I'm asked for.

I get asked for probably one a week.  I don't do that many (only 1 this year) as I mainly stick to QTRA and BS5837 as they are regular works.  I only really take them on if its for a mortgage advisor or an estate agent as again this could lead to regular works.  I could do a lot more though if I had the time so definitely worth the cost of training.