A few home loans might be cheaper after this week's 0.5 per cent base-rate cut, but the ongoing mortgage drought means that remortgaging is still tricky, with no guarantee of even a halfway decent deal. I should know because I have been looking for a deal myself this week. The 4.85 per cent two-year fixed-rate loan on the flat that I own with my sister ends this month.

We were able to put down a 20 per cent deposit two years ago, so we have a decent amount of equity in the property. But lenders are not minded just now to be generous. This is the strategy I followed in pursuit of the best possible deal. My sister and I will now be paying just £80 a month more on our next mortgage, rather than the £200 to £300 extra that we were facing on our lender's standard variable rate.

Step one: do the research

Despite the downturn, many people still assume that the value of their property remains unchanged and apply for a mortgage for which they are not eligible. Loan-to-value is crucial to the price of a loan: the lower the percentage of your property's value that you borrow, the more competitive the loan that you can get. Databases such as zoopla.co.uk (used by lenders) provide up-to-date information on house prices. I supplemented this information with extra research on prices recently fetched by local properties similar to mine.

Step two: be nice to your lender

First, I approached Cheltenham & Gloucester to see what it could offer me. Many lenders have deals reserved for existing customers, not listed on their websites and not available through brokers. I went armed with information on the best deals that I had found at timesonline.co.uk/money. I was presented with six deals, some fixed, some tracker (a base rate tracker loan follows the movement of the bank base rate).

Step three: ask the experts

Jonathan Cornell, of Hamptons Mortgages, gave me this advice: “You and your sister are lucky that you have a decent amount of equity. Lenders are keener now to give loans to those with larger deposits, as, with house prices falling, borrowers going for high loan-to-value loans may soon be in negative equity.

“Lenders will either use surveyors to carry out valuations or house price databases. If you have extended your property or done a lot of work to it, your property may be incorrectly downvalued, so it's worth explaining this at the start of the process.

“The good news for you and your sister is that you have plenty of choice. The best rates without vast arrangement fees come from Nationwide, which is offering a two-year base rate tracker at 5.43 per cent with a £599 fee, or a two-year fixed rate at 5.98 per cent, again with a £599 fee. Both of these come with free valuations and conveyancing for remortgages.”

Step four: get a second opinion

Richard Morea, of London & Country, told me this: “Currently there is not much difference between the price of a tracker and fixed-rate deal but this will change as further base rate cuts are predicted, which will drive down tracker rates. The best tracker on the market at the moment is Nationwide [mentioned above]. The Cheltenham & Gloucester deal of 5.59 per cent with a £495 fee is also very competitive.

“You and your sister should consider staying with Cheltenham & Gloucester as changing lenders would take longer. The delay could mean that you would be forced to pay your lender's SVR [standard variable rate] of 7 per cent for at least a month.”

Also, check the small print of your current mortgage to find out what rate you will be put on when the deal exprires - it might not be as bad as you think, and some lenders automatically put you on a tracker rather than their standard variable rate.

The decision

We opted for C&G's tracker deal. My sister, a mathematician and scientist, checked all the sums, calculating how much our repayments could fall if there are more base rate cuts, as is widely predicted.

Jargon buster

Remortgaging: Switching from one deal to another to get a cheaper rate

Maximum LTV: The highest possible percentage of a property’s value (loan-to-value) that you can borrow against

Base rate: Interest rate benchmark set by the Bank of England

Fix: A mortgage rate that is fixed for a set period to offer the security of knowing repayment amounts

Tracker: A mortgage rate that “tracks” the Bank of England base rate by a set percentage

SVR: Standard variable rate — the interest rate, usually more expensive, that a borrower reverts to at the end of a deal

Deposit: The amount of cash required upfront by a lender before it will offer a deal

Equity: The value built up in a property that a borrower owns outright

Broker: The middleman who can help to find the best loan, sometimes free, sometimes for a fee

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