Yes I remember having our first home then, and our first baby! One thing you also have to remember though is that rates didn't go from 5% to 18% our loan when we first took it out was at 14% so it was an increase of 4%.
Our property value doubled in that time so we did have equity but I was off work with our baby and we often only had $20 for food. My parents paid our rates that year and hubby's family would drop boxes of veges off to help us out. We also ate at their place every weekend.
It was horrible! But we managed to keep our home. 1 neighbour gave up and went home to England, another couple in our street ended up divorced from the stress.
If it went to 18% now, I would be stuffed but I couldn't see it happening so quickly that we couldn't do a strategic sell off first.
Our property value doubled in that time so we did have equity but I was off work with our baby and we often only had $20 for food. My parents paid our rates that year and hubby's family would drop boxes of veges off to help us out. We also ate at their place every weekend.
It was horrible! But we managed to keep our home. 1 neighbour gave up and went home to England, another couple in our street ended up divorced from the stress.
If it went to 18% now, I would be stuffed but I couldn't see it happening so quickly that we couldn't do a strategic sell off first.