to be so fed up that my house has not increased in value in TWELVE YEARS

[chocolatemixedwithdogfood]

That, really.

It's in a not very great part of Glasgow - not horrific but not posh either - but it was all we could afford at the time. We paid £165,000 for it in 2006. Then increased the mortgage by 10,000 so we could convert the attic. Thinking that within five years we'd sell it for around £200k and move somewhere a bit bigger as our family grew.

Upshot has been that its valued has remained what we paid for it at the very most - we were told that it would fetch between 150-165 maximum by an estate agent this year.

We have rented it out for the past six years as our family got bigger and we needed another bedroom. And we rent our house.

It's in good condition, lovely big garden, nicely painted, though the current tenants are not keeping it in great condition with their huge dog and it will need a massive deep clean when they leave, however they are good tenants in that they always pay on time and keep the garden nice, etc.

Just wonder if it will ever increase in value, and if we will ever be able to afford a bigger house or will be forever renting.

What part of Glasgow is it in?
I find estate agents here don't seem to have a real clue about the market. People near us (another not bad but not super posh bit of Glasgow) are paying waaay over the offers over/HR values.

It might be worth checking out zoopla or similar for actual sold prices vs HR values - it might have more of a chance than you think.
Definitely switch mortgages though. Have you managed to save up any further money in your time renting that could be added to what you'd get back for the house for future deposit?

The house I bought 10 years ago is worth around £100k less than I paid for it if that makes you feel any better!!

AndNow, we got a 100percent mortgage as we had no deposit, and we hoped that the house would accrue value within a few years.

You've paid interest only for 12 years? Well that wasn't the best decision. You're lucky you haven't lost money.

Houses aren't guaranteed money making machines I'm afraid. Sorry.

Switch to a regular mortgage and overpay as much as you can. At least that way you'll be making progress.

Lalalalyra

Buy to let properties are the only mortgages, where interest only is allowed nowadays. There will have been no problem with this. Dh and I bought our house in 2008 on an interest only residential as we couldn't afford to pay off the capital at the time. We have subsequently remortgaged onto capital repayment and would no longer be allowed to get an interest only mortgage.

YABU, massively
There's no guarantee that houses will increase in value especially if you bought at the top of the market.
Before you accuse me of schadenfreude, I'd like to say that I was in an almost identical situation 6 years ago and I consider myself to have been U in taking out an interest-only mortgage for the sum of money that I did. I blame myself, my not-so-DH, our slightly greedy financial advisor and not the market... but myself most. I consider it a lesson learned the hard way

If I'd bought in London instead at the same time I would have probably near doubled my money but on the bright side at least I didn't have to live in London for the last ten years

Northern, again, we could only afford the interest only and hoped to switch to capital. We are now both earning a lot more than we did 12 years ago and are in a position to do so very soon.

Punjana, sorry to hear that!

We do rent it out for a reasonable price though the estate agent has also advised us that we are undercharging our tenants and could increase the rent by £100 pcm. Feel bad doing that though as they are both in shitty jobs with a new baby and definitely can't afford a rent increase.

Interest-only mortgages are criminal, I wish they'd get rid of them entirely.

My parents bought their house for £900k 9 years ago and it's valued the same now they've put it on the market! Not increased a penny in almost a decade! That's shocking really but you aren't the only one in this situation,pretty shocking though that you have an interest only mortgage for so long you've u need to get that changed ASAP

caoraich it's in Anniesland, the not so nice part.

I've looked online though and houses in the same street are going for offers over £140k or fixed price £150-55.

You've paid interest only for 12 years? Well that wasn't the best decision. You're lucky you haven't lost money.

well she has, she may as well have rented, (at least she would get the benefit of not having to meet the cost of repairs) she owns nothing of the property.

Right, this has really motivated me to get the figures and everything sorted out to switch to capital, just need to get one big expense out of the way first that we're saving for.

Why have you left it on interest only for 12 years?!

A few reasons Adalind, husband was made redundant and I was a SAHM for a few years.

No we don't GardenGeek, I didn't know you had to put in 10 percent.

When you topped up to get the loft down was that interest only too or have you paid some off it's important to keep in mind when you want to renigotiate to a repayment mortgage! If you are both earning more now is there an overpayment clause in your mortgage can you start now? It will stand you in a much better position when you renegotiate if you at least have some equity

Check your rate - you might be better overpaying off the capital instead of switching if you have a tracker

Why not just pay some of the capital of each month rather than remortgaging.
No need to go through the cost/paperwork of a different mortgage

that was interest only too MadamePomfrey.

I don't know if there is an overpayment clause, is that the same as paying off the capital?

Can we just do that Surfing without changing mortgage?

Yes it's what I do. I phoned the bank and told them what I wanted to do and then set them up as a person to pay. I then decide how much to pay off the capital each month

if the price of your house had gone up then the prices of bigger houses would have gone up too.

Why, have they all had loft conversations too?