I bought a house as an investment at the completely wrong time, the end of 2006, just as the housing market was at its highest (which I didn’t really realise at the time). How hindsight is great! I had no intention of living there, I planned to sell it after a few years and maybe make a profit from it. Eventually I decided to rent it out.

My house was in immaculate condition. The first tenant I got stayed one month. To make a long story short, she practically wrecked the place; broke the front window because she lost the keys, destroyed carpets, left rubbish etc and left me with a bill of €300 for the gas. My sisters and friends helped me clean up her mess when she left! To top it off I got my appendix out around the same time and lost about a stone in weight thanks to her! I worry too much about everything and anything.

About a year later, my boyfriend Killian and I freshened up the place inside and out. One day as I drove down to the house, I said to Killian on the phone, “This is the last time I’ll be driving down here. The next time I’ll be down in that house is to hand over the keys,” and I kept repeating it to myself.

I usually got depressed when I drove the road to the house (about an hour’s drive), but this time I felt great and had a smile on my face. I took small things out of my house which I didn’t want lying around when a tenant moved in.

A month or two later I got a call from the auctioneer saying he had somebody interested in it; she had the deposit and months rent ready! Great news whoo hoo! She recently moved out because she lost her job, but the auctioneer said he had another girl lined up to move in straight away. She’s still there and she’s painted the place and cleaned windows and is treating it like it’s her own (hopefully someday soon it will be). 🙂

I find it hard to believe sometimes, but trying my best because I’m such a worrier and tend to think the worst, but faith and positive thinking and God made this happen, especially in a small village where there were a few other houses for sale and for rent in the same estate.