Francesca Amber

Because if you have share of freehold or leasehold, your neighbors at any point can just decide, oh, actually, you can't Airbnb anymore.

Oh, actually, you can't do this.

You can't do that.

And I didn't want anyone to have that control over my life.

Now, when you're looking at freehold houses in London...

that shit gets real fucking expensive.

So I'm trying to lay the groundwork for you that what I wanted was either going to be a compromise, like a flat or something without no outdoor space or whatever, maybe in an area that I didn't quite want, but you know, I could get the tube to places I do like, or I'd have to sell my house and just go all in.

So the first thing that I think is really important is taking steps before you're ready.

Okay, so taking steps before you're ready.

I talk about this all the time.

Go and shop for your dream life before you've got your ducks in a row.

Go and figure out what it is that you want.

And so I've done this so many times, right, in various stages of my property journeys.

And it has always accelerated the timeline so fast I can barely keep up.

Over the last year or so, since I've not had use of my flat...

I made a real concerted effort to go into different Airbnbs and I would stay in different areas of London that I'd never stayed in before.

I stayed in Kennington.

I've gone south, which I've never done before.

I went and stayed in a beautiful flat in Hampstead overlooking the ponds.

I went back to Camden a lot because that's where I spent my 20s and I loved living there.