Refinance for untenanted IP

I'm looking to refinance one of my IPs to another bank, possibly to a (big 4) bank where I already have 2 loans. The property is untenanted and because of COVID, it's been been that way for about 2 months now. I expect this will be a negative with any application.

Is it worth waiting for a tenant or is this something that isn't a major issue with a refinance?

thanks

 

It doesn't need to be currently tenanted, get a rental appraisal from a local real estate agent with a rental estimate for the property. Most lenders will accept that figure if they're only using a desktop valuation, if they require a full valuation the report will have the rental estimate on there. They will use the lower of either the rental appraisal or the val report.

You would want to check with a broker that you can service the refinance application if you think the application won't service without the rental income. Lenders only take 80% of the rental towards servicing (some take less) capped at maximum 6% of the property value.

Good time to check what other options are around, big 4 are not always the best, in fact most times aren't.

 

A few years back I just gave the bank a letter from the real estate agent stating how much the place would rent for.

 

A rental appraisal or rental noted on the valuation report would be sufficient.