Practice makes perfect

  I'm historically a fixer of all things, so this comes in handy as you never know till you open a wall or remove the kitchen what you really have to deal with.

  So when I found my first property to fix up in 2010 I was more than ready to dive in. I did all the work myself inside the house apart from the gas work, then moved to leveling out the lawn and adding drainage to landscape the garden.

  This property was collected after a detailed negotiation with the bank at a fantastic price, later on we had added an extra £16,000 to the value with only a £7,500 renovation cost. 

  It just goes to show that even with a tight budget a lot can be done to upgrade the property value, when you know the ticks of the trade.