How can you tell if a property for sale has profit-making potential and what key elements are most worth investing your cash in? Emily Smith investigates

Emily Smith

Previously a dark and cluttered terraced house, Amos Goldreich Architecture has transformed this property thanks to extensive internal refurbishment, plus side and roof extensions. While respecting the original period style, an openplan layout with contemporary finishes has created a sophisticated, airy, light and spacious home

If you’re looking to buy a run-down property and do it up to sell on as a money-making venture, then you’re probably planning to spend as little as possible in the process. Of course, renovating somewhere to live in yourself still calls for getting the most bang for your buck, but where your cash is best placed could be different if you’re on a profitmaking journey. So what do potential buyers value the most in a house, and how can you best transform your investment into profit? Here are my top tips.

1 Understand what work is needed

It’s always worth properly investigating how big a job it’s going to be to renovate a house. A scarily-derelict looking property could only need a cosmetic facelift, perhaps simply new flooring and a fresh lick of paint, whereas something that looks in pretty good nick might actually prove to have underlying structural problems that will cost a fortune to fix.