Thanks so much for taking the time to read my very first blog and to check on my progress. Whilst many of you seem to think that becoming a full-time property developer will entail numerous television appearances and hours set aside to count vast piles of money; I intend to set the record straight with this diary.

I left my job of 9 years with BMW UK a month ago now and thought that it was about time that I updated you on my adventures. As many of my friends will know, I’m not a complete property virgin. In the past Dad and me have bought a couple of houses to let out and even renovated a fallen down thatched cottage which I lived in for a while (see the Gallery pages for photos!). Well, as any Landlord knows letting property can be a blissfully quiet business for anything up to 18 months before all hell inevitably breaks loose and you are forced to put in some hours. I’ve got 4 separate young professionals in one house and 2 of them decided to leave within a month of each other (they were on student placements – I didn’t scare them away…), I had to get my house in Wokingham let (some income at last!), and another of my tenants has warned that he’s about to hand in his notice as he is in the process of buying his own place. Drama drama drama – just what I needed as I completed the purchase of my first full-time renovation project in Swansea. Needless to say for the past 3 weeks I have been advertising rooms, picking random strangers up from the train station in order to show them round, cleaning my house from top to bottom, and answering a constantly ringing mobile phone. In between times I have been attempting to move all my belongings to one place, meet builders at my recently purchased Swansea house, and get this website up and running!

It’s not been all bad; I’ve recently been lucky enough to enjoy 700 miles in 5 days in this! A slight change from the steady stream of brand new BMW’s that I’ve enjoyed in the past. The beast and I actually got on pretty well despite it having no working radio, no working internal lights, and a clutch designed for Bigfoot : ) I gave the Enterprise staff a good laugh when I enquired as to how to adjust the wing mirrors and they had to point out the window winder.

Anyway, I’m making progress and have rented out the 2 remaining rooms and got the tenant for my old house successfully settled in. I can now start to focus on my ugly ducking house in Swansea (see the Gallery pages for proof!). So far the major issue has been getting builders to return my calls and even if I manage to speak with someone and drag them round the house, I have yet to find anyone that can start this year. They gloss over this issue completely on TV. Hilariously, many builders have also been put off by the amount of work required to the outside of the property – apparently it gets a bit cold and wet in Swansea over the Winter months and they’d rather take nice cosy jobs until the Spring. There was me thinking that Welsh builders were a hardy bunch : )

So, you leave me this week waiting for a building quote from the one firm I’ve found that could start this year and trying to persuade more builder’s to take a look round and quote me for the work. If anyone needs me I’ll be traipsing round MFI and B&Q getting Kitchen quotes.