Is anyone else going to have to sell their house because of the credit crunch?

[mrsalansugar]

It looks like we are. DH works in the building trade and is now getting very little work in, therefore, we have little income and won't be able to make the mortgage payments much longer. It's quite a modest house in any case and we've only just finished doing up our house and I'm devastated.

I am so sorry for you.

Oh dear.

Have you done all the obvious things:

1. Get your dh to sign on for contributions based jobseekers allowance - that can be linked to a claim to have your mortgage interest (only up to £100k, though) paid. There is a 39 week wait between filing your form and getting the money.

1. Arrange for the mortgage to be transferred onto interest only.

1. Any chance at all you could work/increase your hours for an extra income stream?

1. See the CAB to check you're getting everything you're entitled to.

Best of luck.

Thank you for your kind messages.

Or, given that you'll probably find it very difficult to sell right now, why not rent your house out for a year or two, and then rent a smaller place? That's what a friend of mine's doing at the moment. That way, you keep your house in the long term, even though in the short term it'd probably be a bit cramped.

That sounds like a good idea (above message)

Oh no. That is awful. What do the bank say?

mrsalansugar - I am sorry to read that & you won't be alone

Everyone always suggests the renting it out and renting somewhere else idea - unfortunately, in reality, rents rarely cover mortgage payments these days, so you would have to make up the difference while paying rent yourselves.

Get your house valued and on the market ASAP, and then discuss your situation with CAB, and your mortgage lender. There is excellent advice available from www.moneysavingexpert.com

We've already investigated letting our house but although the rent will cover the agents' fees, the mortgage and some of the rent for another smaller house it still leaves us with a lot to find and we don't know that we'll be able to do it. We've already got a stay of execution from our mortgage lender but in reality I know that we're going to have to sell.

Oh, ok. Have you made a claim for help with your mortgage interest, though?

What about this:

www.locationsolutionsuk.com/

Is it big enough to take in a lodger? You can charge about £90 a week tax-free. If you live in a city popular with foreign-language students (Cambridge, Oxford, Brighton, York etc etc) you can get a lot more to provide meals and conversation practice. The room you let out to a student only needs to be big enough for a single bed, desk and clothes storage.

Re.lalalonglegs have you been on the MondaytoFriday.com website (I think that's what it's called).You just have a lodger from Mon-Fri and get your house to yourself at weekends. My dh was a lodger on this basis and it was fine - the owner had a daughter and was using it to pay school fees. He did his own food and was out all day and home at weekends - everyone happy - good luck!