Re-finance on a village house

[si0001]

Just wanted to put this question out there to see if there is any advice.

I have 2 properties in Guangzhou, China, both have mortgages at undesirable rates (1.2mil @ 6.5% and 1.8 mil @ 4.5 %).

I also have a village house in Hong Kong (in joint name with my brother) that has no financing on it.

My thought was to take out a mortgage on my HK village house and thus getting a much better HK rate and use it to pay off my properties in China. My village house should be worth around 10mil and I'm looking to take out a mortgage or around 3- 3.5 mil.

I'm unfamiliar with this kind of stuff, are there any obvious reasons as to why I can't do it? Can assume that my brother with have no problem with this.

I do have an appointment with Citibank tomorrow but thought I'd ask here first.

Thanks

[Kiz]

Some banks are not willing to lend on village houses, not sure if Citi are one of them. If you get stuck BOC do lend on them (I'm sure others do too)

[Drunken Master]

Is the village house >5 years old? Village houses <5 years need to pay land premium before mortgage.

[si0001]

Some banks are not willing to lend on village houses, not sure if Citi are one of them. If you get stuck BOC do lend on them (I'm sure others do too)

I was indeed knocked back by Citi (just dropped in to see them). Will take a look at BOC. Thanks

[si0001]

Is the village house >5 years old? Village houses <5 years need to pay land premium before mortgage.

The house is actually 30+ years old. Do you know of any restrictions on mortgage length due to the age of the property?

[Kiz]

I could only get a 20 year mortgage on a 38 year old village house from BOC last year. Just FYI. The lady at the BOC in Central (near World Wide House) call Pinky was who we dealt with and I would highly recommend dealing with her if you can.

[si0001]

I could only get a 20 year mortgage on a 38 year old village house from BOC last year. Just FYI

That would work for me! Good to know.