Thanks for your thoughtful response. My mortgage is so big because I've been a single parent for 15 years, with 4 children, three of whom are currently at university! Guess how I've managed to fund all that?! Renting looks very complicated, at first glance, and dodgy too, if there aren't tenants there all the time. I've pretty much decided to stop worrying about it for now, have one last family Christmas here, and put it up for auction maybe next Feb - you're quite right, I just have to resign myself to dropping the price still further.

Who was it - the chairman of Nationwide? - who reckoned house prices would come down by 25% by the end of next year? That would mean round about £150,000 - leaving me precious little to do up my Italian house, but I'm used to never having enough money to do what I really want to do, and I just want to get out there.

What other ways of marketing the property were you thinking of? I'm on Zoopla! and I've got a flyer up in a waterfront cafe. I'm not so sure about other estate agents; there are hundreds of house up for sale around here, and no one estate agent seems to be faring any better than another. It's only the big posh houses in exceptional locations that are selling at all. If only I'd been born in 1947 instead of 1948, and retired last year!

Hi...I think the immediate problem is the mortgage payments. If the house isn't selling, renting is a viable alternative although this will have some problems in respect of the existing lender or rental criteria from a BTL lender. You have to weigh up how you feel about losing some potential profit and taking a hit on the sale price or riding the storm and seeking advice on renting the property. I asked how old you were and the equity left in the property in case equity release would help, but it won't work here. I would consider other ways of marketing the property or changing estate agents???

Hi Ian191. You mean ask them to let me suspend payments? I don't want to eat into my equity but I will certainly do that if things get really bad.

Hi, Ian. I'm just 60 and my mortgage is for £108,500.

How much is the mortgage and how old are you???

Hi well like you stated you have a few options. Rent the property out until the credit crunch is over or sell it in a auction room or with national homebuyers for less than you are expecting.

Other than that its going to see the bank and letting them know your situation if you have enough equity in your house.

Hope this helps

Despite living in a Cornish conservation village with sea-views, nobody wants to buy my house. I've dropped the price from £190,00 to £169,950, but I've only had three viewers and no-one since May.. I've just retired, and bought a house in Italy with the lump sum from my pension - moving to Italy is a lifelong dream. However, I'm now broke, can barely pay the (interest-only) mortgage - I qualify for pension credit - and can't afford to get out there. I'm considering auction, National Homebuyers and renting. Any advice, anybody?