Meet hard-working 28 year-olds Rikita and Dony Patel. She works in the city and he has a high-flying job in pharmaceuticals - but what they really want is to play happy families. For two years they’ve been searching for the perfect pad to make a new life ... and four months ago they found it. A four bedroomed house, just half an hour from Rikita’s parents in Shirley, Croydon, with a large garden and most importantly, plenty of room to extend. But just days before they were due to move in, Rikita and Dony became one of the first casualties of the credit crunch; their mortgage was withdrawn. Like a growing number of buyers, they lost the house because of nervous lenders.