Box thinking

As has been hinted elsewhere, my lease is running up soon and in addition, I no longer have my investment property. I've enjoyed the last half a year or so as a bit of a "holiday" away from tourist hosting, but truth be told the income I can get from it is just too attractive to stay away. The difficulty is that since I'm not in a position to buy, it would have to be via a rental, and this time it would need to be in the home I live in. Unfortunately the town I live in just hasn't got the tourist trade I would need. My research has shown that I'd get quite a poor income trying to do it here. So I bit the bullet and spoke to my boss, and she has been lovely. She admitted that I'd broken her heart in telling her I'm leaving, but she has offered to speak to other managers and see if I can get a transfer in September.

I've been looking at properties that might work in other towns, but it's disappointing to see how expensive anywhere with a suitable layout is going to be. I'm seriously considering whether I should just rent a studio with a carspace and buy myself a van... and sleep out there whenever I have a paying guest - my work (even if I transfer) has shower and kitchen facilities.

Tomorrow sees me onto the early train to visit another town and check out the tourist vibe there for myself on the ground. It's a bit hard to judge the tourist demand in each area. I need to do this research.

I've also learned to my irritation that I'm expected to steam clean my carpets here before the lease is up. For someone who never wears shoes indoors and whose room is kept neat as a pin, that cost sort of grates. Based on my searches I'd be up for about £60 for the rental of a steam cleaner, taxi rides there and back, and the shampoo. Guess who just arranged one online for £56 including shampoo, with free delivery, and gets to keep the cleaner afterwards? This tightwad :D

Downside: I'll now have three "suitcases" -worth of stuff to move when I do! Perhaps four, if I remember my bits and pieces in the kitchen.