BUYING a house is the biggest purchase most people will make in their lives.

In my experience, you have a quick look round - I’ve taken more time looking at cars than any house I’ve bought - then agree to splash out five or six figure sums borrowed from someone else.

When you see somewhere you like it’s easy to let your heart rule your head, but once you move in, it’s down to earth with a bump.

For many of us when we set up a mortgage, that’s all we think about. We barely consider other costs: Council Tax, bills, household maintenance. We’ll manage, we think. And we rarely budget for unforeseen events.

When we first bought a house interest rates were 12 per cent, which we could just about afford. But, just weeks after moving in, having been able to afford only a basic survey, we discovered that the mid-terrace property was unsound and the entire first floor was supported by the skin of its teeth. Not covered by insurance, it took another loan to sort it out.

The following year interest rates shot to 15 per cent. It was terrifying. My husband and I worked full-time, but still I took a second job in a pub to make ends meet.

Having a mortgage can be scary. I remember when we signed up for our first, I felt trapped in a way I never felt when renting. But it’s also liberating - it’s your house which you can do as you like with. You are not at the beck and call of a landlord.

But you have some hard decisions to make, especially in a volatile market like today’s when you don’t know what the interest rate will be the next day never mind six months down the line.

Much advice steers homeowners towards fixed rates. ‘At least we know where we are for the next five years’, was my way of thinking, and it takes away a certain amount of stress. But it doesn’t always work out for the best.

In 2017, having suffered so many years of interest rates in double figures, we opted for a five-year fixed rate of 4.1 per cent, which seemed like a good deal. But, of course, interest rates plummeted and were soon at rock bottom. We fixed because to us it seemed reasonable. But as things turned out, we ended up paying on average about £150 per month more than we would have paid had we stuck with the standard variable rate.

I’ve seen many comments online from people who, like me, paid 15 per cent and believe that people have been complacent during the years of low rates and the bubble has now burst.

They probably have, but then they have also had to borrow so much more, with house prices quadruple what they were back then. Nowadays simply getting on the property ladder is an achievement

In the 1990s two-and-a-half times joint salary was the most you could borrow. Now it’s double that.

Clearly I’m not qualified to advise - even Martin Lewis was flummoxed when asked on ITV’s This Morning as to what households should do when mortgage repayments rise - but if I was in the early to mid-stages of a mortgage I’d grab a fixed rate now, for the next five years. You might, as we did, end up losing out, but at least you’ll sleep at night knowing what the repayments are.

And, if you can, try and overpay when possible. I used to stick in small sums - as little as £10 some months - which did make a difference.

It’s a juggling act, and one in which it's vital not to panic, and keep your nerve.