Date Published 25 July 2016

It is now just over a month since the Brexit vote and we have seen some enormous changes which even script writers would not have forecasted. We all commended Leicester City on their triumphant achievements and the book keepers lost enormous sums as odds of 5000/1 were offered at the start of the season. Likewise, I wonder what the odds would have been a while back that David Cameron would have resigned, we would be out of Europe and as maybe the case Jeremy Corbyn wins the labour nomination for a 2nd time despite fierce opposition.

What this all illustrates well is that we often go through life knowing our direction, wishes and goals, yet all too often things are completely outside our control. Others influence us and we need to adapt to ever changing environments. At one end of the scale we do this all the time when we for example drive our cars, we concentrate on the roads and have to constantly make changes to our speed, breaking and obverse what's around us to avoid accidents. We cannot easily plan in any great detail. At the other end of the scale, the same appears to be true with regard to recent developments. Things have changed very quickly, yet there does not appear clear plans to deal with factors should they perhaps not go in the direction we had initially planned, or perhaps we have thought ahead achieved our goal, but then thought what next? As I write this article, I am still wondering how this will end, what conclusions will be drawn and what relevance has all of this got to do with the housing market in rural Stroud.

So what are the conclusions you may be thinking? Where we live, what we buy, what we rent is to some extent all one great big lottery. Whilst we may have a rough idea, the finer details all typically depends on the actions of others, others whom we have no control over. We can't buy or rent a house if it is not available, so we make choices of the best alternatives at that point of time. These very alternatives that are changing every day as tenants give notice to vacate or maybe vendors decide to sell following a need to up-size/ down-size or relocate due to new job opportunities. Opportunities to grab whilst the iron is hot, some would say. Though, I have seen many a buyer / tenant disappointed that they have lost their desired property only to find that something better or more suitable is around the corner. With hindsight we get to see the bigger picture, we become content with our new surroundings and whilst not 100% in control we feel safer and secure that our life direction is perhaps somewhat clearer.