Canterbury - 27th May, 2007

We have moved. The purchase of our 7th property in Canterbury has seen us finally moving into a house which will allow us all a bit of space. Even though we have 11 people (actually there were 2 other "unauthorised" visitors last night - making it 13) living in the house at the moment we will eventually settle on about 4 or 5 guests and have a room of our own each, something we have never had before.

The house is on the other side of town from where we were in Cowdrey Place but very close to most of our other rentals so very convenient from that point of view. It has added about 10 minutes to our school run journey but it has the benefit of the only cycle path in Canterbury at the end of the garden. It takes you straight into Canterbury city. Perfect for boys.

We have been worked off our feet in the last month. What with the move and working almost full time invigilating for all the exams that are on at the moment. The house at Cowdrey Place was rented from the day we left so it had to been made immaculate before we left. We are using it as a serviced apartment until July when it is then rented for a year to students. Then we moved into the new house with the electricians pulling up the floor boards and new guests arriving. We took our 2 chinese boys with us from Cowdrey and have since acquired 2 chinese girls (on half term from a local boarding school), a member of the cast of Starlight Express, who are in town for 3 weeks, James, our PGCE student who has come back for a week and Craig, an English Teacher who is also a long term customer. The family gets bigger.

Julie has handed in her notice and will leave her job at the end of June. She finally gave up with the ineptitude of the organisation and decided she could no longer be part of the shambles. She will miss the refugees and the mentors that she has nurtured but it can no longer be. She will do more work for our property business instead. She only needs to generate an extra week and a half of rentals to cover her salary.

The business is going well. We have a good number of advance bookings and have had a couple of really good long term executive business rentals, one of which has lasted since lastNovember.
We have also taken on a property for a friend to rent for holiday lets in the summer and to rent to students from September. We still do not generate sufficient income from the 7 properties to cover our living expenses. I estimate that we need at least 9 to do that but I think we have done well to get 7 on the road in 13 months. Not sure how we keep going at that rate. Our funds are virtually used now so we have to wait until some of the properties have sufficient equity in them to pull some out for the next deposit.

Now to the stock market: we are waiting for the moment. China is about to crash. Never in financial history has a market risen so audaciously since the South Sea Bubble in 1720. When it falls we will all suffer the consequences just as we shook when China sneezed in late February. If you sell your shares now, cash in any endowment policies and move any pension investments into cash you should be OK. Get ready to short.

You should see some photos of the new house below.