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.

Thanks very much to the majority of posters who have given supportive replies, we are definitely going to go and see an IFA over the next few weeks and see what we can do, we are fortunate that we can afford to put a fairly good amount towards a repayment or failing that an ISA.

To those posting unhelpful comments about us being ignorant etc etc, I'm signing out now but I'm sure if you look there are plenty of other threads where you can go and kick posters when they're down and rub salt in their wounds when they're clearly upset already. If that's what floats your boat.

I will honestly NEVER understand posters on here who can see someone is in a difficult position or troubled about something and somehow take pleasure in posting spiteful, unhelpful comments. I may have been a bit ignorant about finances - I have had a LOT of other stuff going on over the past years that I won't go into - but I do know it's not ok to deliberately make someone feel worse and taunt them when they're already low. Never.

To those posting unhelpful comments about us being ignorant etc etc, I'm signing out now but I'm sure if you look there are plenty of other threads where you can go and kick posters when they're down and rub salt in their wounds when they're clearly upset already. If that's what floats your boat.

I will honestly NEVER understand posters on here who can see someone is in a difficult position or troubled about something and somehow take pleasure in posting spiteful, unhelpful comments. I may have been a bit ignorant about finances - I have had a LOT of other stuff going on over the past years that I won't go into - but I do know it's not ok to deliberately make someone feel worse and taunt them when they're already low. Never.

As far as I can tell, no one was spiteful or taunting you. People were questioning your behaviour and your lack of planning to pay off the capital of a mortgage you couldn't really afford at the time and made the risky 'bet' that the market would keep on rising for ever. It didn't pay off and after 10 years of inaction, your approach hadn't moved on from 'hopefully a price rise will bail us out.' I am glad however that you've finally got some proper financial advice.

After everything that has been written and said post credit crunch, I have to admit it is still frustrating that some people are still taking the Casino approach to their home and then complaining when their number doesn't come up .

Op have you been receiving more rent than your mortgage has been?

OP, what reason did you have for thinking (thinking, not believing, not feeling) that the value of your house would continue to rise?

Definitely get some advice about getting a higher-paying tenant if possible, particularly how much that 'deep clean' is going to cost and how much it will cost to relet the house, because although your tenants are nice, sounds like they're trashing the property and not paying enough rent. Might be better just to break even and cut your losses, because there may be a lot of instability up here and it's not likely prices are going to rise anytime soon.