The year has almost ended and it is time to look back on our property business activities; to reflect and plan for next year. Once again we have been asking ourselves the age-old questions: what should we repeat and what should we avoid?

The number of purchases this year for us was significantly up, and all of our refurbishments went well and were completed on time, despite the average time taken to get a sale through lengthening. I am convinced that with the upturn in the market many solicitors have found themselves short-staffed and struggling, and any sale that involved a chain was therefore painstakingly slow.

2014 was the first year since the market crash in 2007 that we have returned to holding some of our (recently bought) refurbished properties, and tenant demand has been really encouraging. Each of our properties had numerous applicants and we will certainly be keeping a lot more in 2015.

Our advertising efforts in 2014 for buying property have been strictly monitored for results - it's so easy to spend a fortune on paid advertising with little return.