Depressing mortgage fact from martin lewis..
As we're on a fixed rate mortgage until March 2010, I hoped we could ride out the mortgage issues and then it may be back on track. But hadn't thought about the issue of what Martin Lewis is called "Evaporating Equity". It's when your loan to value of the house dwindles as a result of the dropping house prices, so how much "deposit" you effectively have left in your house. Last year we had about 30% in ours but on calling up the other day to discuss my mortgage I was shocked to find that we had about 15%!! We can't afford to pay any more towards it so will have to hope that our house is worth more in 2010 otherwise when it comes to remortgage we may as well be a first time buyer with a small deposit otherwise we'll have to stick with our mortgage lender and pay the standard variable rate - just what we need with 2 childcare bills to pay. Depressing times :(( Jo x

I read this too Jo - it's all pretty grim isn't it. Estate Agents seem to be predicting that house prices will continue to fall until spring 2009 and then they will plateau before starting to creep back up gain in 2010 - but very slowly My flat was worth its peak amount in spring 2007 and it will probably take until spring 2012 for it to get back to that amount. I still have a year to go on a fixed rate.

I know Lois, I think that those first time buyers who bought last Spring then have a fixed rate due to expire in a year or so are going to feel it worst, it is very scary. We wanted to take a payment holiday next year as I'll still be on mat leave and got it approved ( I hope!) but the woman said that from next week payment holidays are not going to be commonplace and there will be really strict criteria, I guess to stop people who are in financial difficulty relying on this as a way out. I have to say I am very scared by it all and I know several friends who have sold up and are renting, alright that isn't the long term way to go but when you have small children it makes sense. Jo

So long as you don't end up in negative equity!! That'd have to be the worst! We put our flat on the market when I got pregnant, but right now I'm counting our blessings that we didn't manage to sell as we'd have ended up with a mortgage we'd not be able to pay!!

JoC, I rang a IFA about this last month as our tracker deal runs out next April. They said basically if you stay with your current provider. then they will offer you their current best deal on the market and you don't need to have a valuation re-done! It's only when you switch providers that this is necessary. So we're going to stick with our current provider and secure a new deal sometime in the new year! HTH, LisaB

I really feel for people with a mortgage, i think it was a blessing our mortgage got pulled at the beginning of the year and we didn't buy a house, luckily we're able to keep this house we're renting for as long as we want it and our rent is half what we'd be paying on a mortgage.

I think theres an awful lot of scaremongering going on. Unless you absolutely HAVE to move house then your equity will bounce back, maybe not as quickly and I do think something needed to happen to burst the bubble. I do feel sorry for those that NEED to sell for job relocations or schools or splitting up etc or those that moved in the last 12 months and have seen the quickest erosion of their equity. It is true that if you stay with your current lender they wouldn't normally ask for a revaluation when swapping products. xx