Current events might be making the housing market look a little rough around the edges, but it's having no such effect on Kirstie Allsopp, who's looking particularly zesty in her Sun photo. She's there for a Q&A about the current crisis, answering a series of questions that include Will prices ever go up? and Is now a good time to buy? She describes living in Battersea, in negative equity, during the beginning of the 90s and not being able to afford to visit her friends in west London. I'm assuming she means her friends were inveterate champagne-swiggers, rather than she couldn't afford the bus fare, but others in the Rat and Mouse office disagree. Her advice is sensible and conservative, including:

You can’t go out there in this market, where there is very little available, and say, “Because everything is so cheap, I should be able to find my perfect home” because it just doesn’t work like that.

A lot of people can’t make the most of the falling prices because the mortgage they have been offered means they will end up paying more over the 25 years than if they had bought a more expensive house with a cheaper mortgage.

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