How to Guarantee a Property Gain?

Becoming wealthy through a profitable property investment at resale is perhaps the most popular method to significantly increase one’s capital. But unless you keep the property for at least ten years, it’s not easy to be certain of making a gain. The matter requires constant attention and a strategy thought out from the outset. Follow us as we go through the essentials that will ensure you make a gain!

Buying in the Best Conditions

First of all, find the right property. We’re not talking here merely about the property that will delight your eyes and allow you to picture yourself in it, but about one that has the basic characteristics conducive to making a gain later on.

Try to find a property that meets one or, better still, all of these criteria:

• A sale price below market value, which already ensures you can sell it for more if needed. Don’t hesitate to negotiate further and use any minor defect to do so.
• An area that is gaining value and being positively developed. By attracting new buyers, supply will become more expensive. It’s also a guarantee that infrastructure will develop there and shops will set up.
• Potential to exploit, as work or improvements remain the best way to quickly increase a property’s value.

You can also plan your course of action from the purchase, by determining approximately the number of years you will keep the property. In a generally rising market, a gain naturally becomes likely if you keep it for at least 5 to 10 years.

You can also plan maintenance deadlines: replacing expensive equipment (kitchen, boiler), roof repairs or facade renovation, for example. The good strategy being to sell after completing them in order to increase the attractiveness – and price – of the property. But to carry them out, your budget must allow for it: once again, the purchase price matters, be careful!

Improving the Property

As mentioned in the previous point, to make a property increase in value, nothing beats adding improvements or aesthetic enhancements. Depending on the type of property and its condition at acquisition, plan to include in your overall budget all the obviously necessary work, but also the expenditure that will make it desirable when you decide to sell. Thus, you can:

• Carry out a complete renovation if the property is dated. This involves bringing walls up to modern standards, modernising the kitchen and bathroom, changing flooring and adding a touch of contemporary decoration.
• An improvement intended to make the property match today’s needs: enlarge the living space, add a second bathroom, create a utility room or built-in wardrobes which will be as many assets for resale.
• An extension, if the property is small and the local planning plan allows it. There are today fairly inexpensive methods to create a ground floor or upper floor extension that can significantly increase the living space. With a direct effect on its market value, of course. Find on this specialist site more information about extensions.

To maximise the profit made on the purchase-resale operation, carrying out the work yourself seems the best option. However, be careful to have the skills necessary for the perfect success of each action. Poorly laid plumbing or defective plumbing can cause difficulties at resale, or even unexpected additional costs.

For some work, we strongly advise calling in a professional to benefit, besides quality work, from the applicable guarantee and necessary to be covered by insurance in the event of a claim. This is particularly the case for roofing and joinery. Furthermore, by selecting a professional certified RGE (recognised guarantor for the environment), part of your work may be funded by the government under the “Ma prime rénov’” scheme.

Showcasing for Resale

We’re there: you are about to place an advert or contact your preferred estate agent to sell. Don’t rush, take a moment to calmly assess the strengths of your property. Don’t hesitate to ask for the opinion of your loved ones, regarding their feeling on the aesthetic render of the property, its welcoming aspect, and its defects on which you could intervene.

Among the points of attention, above all ensure you depersonalise the property. Remove trinkets, visible photographs, and everything that generally clutters the decoration. You can also repaint overly coloured walls in white or whose paint has aged: this operation brings real added value at very reasonable cost.

A lack of light may put off some potential buyers: remove curtains or lighten whatever blocks the light as much as possible. To create more space, store away overly imposing furniture in the garage or at friends’.

Finally, put yourself in the visitor’s shoes: does your property make people want it? Have you done everything necessary to trigger a love-at-first-sight? A person wanting to acquire your property at any cost is the best buyer there is as they will be ready to acquire it… at any cost, almost. Let’s say you could sell it slightly above market price. An excellent way to make the gain of your dreams.

Making money from the resale of a flat or house is a philosophy in itself and requires particular attention. But after all, showcasing the property will also help you enjoy a better stay there. If the investment concerns rental and you didn’t have the good idea to invest in furnished letting (LMNP), beware of taxation on your gain! However, know that if it’s your first rental investment and you use the gain to acquire a primary residence within two years, you may be exempt from this taxation. Your turn to play!