We've had a lot of queries about the fuel oil comparison site I mentioned on 'This Morning' this week. The programme's lawyers won't let us mention brand names or websites which can be a nightmare!

The site is www.fueloildirect.co.uk and it's the only oil comparison site we've found so far. If you know of others, do let us know because this is a big issue for people who live in the country particularly.

I also wonder if anyone who has oil-fired heating can use cooking oil as my friend Tira is doing in her diesel car (yes, really - she says it's perfectly do-able and she's driving around with Waitrose's cooking oil in her car!). We're going to be researching fuel and power alternatives over the next few weeks so keep checking the site for news on discounts and grants for solar panels and any help we can find for people struggling to pay their heating bills.

On Talk Sport this morning I mentioned the Italian investment house Generali Investments telling their clients to sell a lot of their stocks now because they think the markets are in a bit of a lull before the storm. Take the profits while you can, is their message, because there are more storms a-comin'.

Sounds obscure but it does affect us all. The health of the markets largely affects the health of our economies. In the UK we're facing some more tough times I think. The credit crunch (i.e. the banks' inability to borrow cheaply from each other - or indeed borrow at all in some cases) has some way to go before it eases off. This means it's going to be expensive for us to borrow money, on the whole, which will mean that mortgages particularly will continue to be difficult and expensive to obtain. This will continue to have an effect on the housing market.

Personally I think that house prices will fall by around 10% this year. The International Monetary Fund have said that house prices in this country have been 30% over-valued so who knows how much prices will fall over the next year or so. I expect more buy-to-let properties to come onto the market in the next year, as amateur property developers find they can't remortgage at a price they can afford (buy-to-let mortgages are generally seen as sub-prime and therefore worrying, by the mortgage lenders).

Of course, if you need to sell your house right now, this is not good news, which is why we have a new article on how to make your house saleable. But if you're planning on selling and upgrading to a larger, more expensive place then you don't need to worry. Even if your home has gone down in price, the place you are buying will have reduced too, and probably by more money as the starting price will have been more.

If you're a first-time buyer then I really do think you're in a good position. Certainly you might be finding it impossible to put together enough of a deposit now as the lenders are demanding more security in the form of a higher percentage deposit, but things are definitely looking up. If you're willing to wait until this time next year, to set up a high-interest savings account and put as much money as you can into it every week/month, then you will be sitting pretty. For the first time in years you won't see house prices racing up faster than you can save and you will have put down more of a deposit than you would have done this year, thus cutting down on the total amount of interest you will have to pay for your mortgage.

One or two mortgage rates have gone down in the last week, although not to any exciting degree. Our excellent mortgage comparison service will have the cheapest deals around if you are looking for a new mortgage now. If you can wait, though, there should be bargains to be had in 10-12 months time. It may be worth signing up for some local house auctions. Go and sit in on a few, see what is happening in the markets, how much properties are going for now and how the whole auction thing works. If you study the market for a bit you will get an idea of where it's going and what really is a bargain.

Don't rush to buy, either for yourself or just as an investment. There's time to sit, watch and wait for the market to dip enough for you to get a bargain.