2011 Snow in Chorleywood
At the time of writing, it is ¾ of the way through the worst month of the year and the official ‘most depressing Monday of the year’ (17th January) is over and done with – thank goodness. I think the depressed feeling comes from a combination of getting paid early for Christmas leaving somewhat of a cash-flow shortage, combined with (as always) a Christmas overspend (even though every year I tell the family I am cutting down on presents…) and a rather hefty credit card bill, dark mornings, dark nights, cold weather, dieting and, in my case, massive frustrations of not having a working website yet after the re-brand at the start of the month.
On top of all that, we had that snow problem before Christmas meaning that valuations, viewings and deals were delayed a week or so, putting us behind on our January targets, so everyone is in a mad panic in the office, trying to make up for lost time. It feels as though the days are zooming by and I am standing still waiting for something good to pass by and drag me onboard. Luckily it looks as though the market is still going well, although I can see the rental prices levelling out after a steady climb through the last 6 months of 2010. What we really need are some rental investors, surely there must be some good buy-to-let mortgage deals around, feel free to email me if you know any on jane@sewellgardner.com.
At the moment I am suffering with a case of ‘red eye syndrome’ from spending way too many hours glued to the computer writing content for the aforementioned website, for lots of property magazines and updating all of the paperwork we use in our job (which is way too much) from Parkheath to Sewell & Gardner, and from 17.5% VAT to 20%. If only the government knew I had a re-brand in January I am sure they would have held off until April for the VAT hike, I would have been very grateful indeed.
I am also learning about ‘Twitter’ which is quite a fascinating medium indeed. I am still very much a novice, but I do have some random celebrities following little old me, which I cannot understand at all, David Hasslehoff for instance…why? Someone said that Facebook is for the friends you already have and Twitter is for the friends you’d like to have, so maybe The Hoff is trying to tell me something? It is amazing how some of the celebrities on Twitter have hundreds of thousands of people following them, but then I guess this is what makes it such a brilliant medium for self promotion, or business promotion, and free of charge to boot. I would be really interested in hearing from anyone who uses Twitter to success with their business, please feel free to follow me on www.twitter.com/sewellgardner (business) or www.twitter.com/lettingangel (personal) or let me know of interesting people to follow.
On a personal front I have been attending 2 dance classes a week with some of my friends and work colleagues, in an attempt to get fit and lose a few pounds ready for the Spring (and times of slightly less clothing). On a Tuesday night @ 8.15pm we head along to Leal School of Dance @lealdance for Street Dancing, which is supposed to be funky but with a bunch of 30 & 40 year old mums, kind of loses a bit of the funkiness. I tend to hide at the back of the class where my bad eyesight stops me from stressing about my reflection in the floor to ceiling mirrors at the front… And on a Wednesday night I head to Zumba class at 8.30pm in the Christchurch Hall, St Albans Road, Watford (badly positioned opposite the KFC) where Michelle puts our stamina to the test with a non-stop hour of wiggling! I shall keep you posted on how the weight is coming off, down one dress size so far so I am very pleased indeed.
TTNF Letting Angel