Don't move, improve

3. Room for improvement?

You’re paying for every square foot of your property, so make the most of it. Bring dead space back to life. A walk in wardrobe is an open invitation for an en suite bathroom and look to integrated storage for a welcome housemate.

4. Lofty ideas

According to Alliance & Leicester, the average cost of a dormer loft is around £23,000, and it can add up to £100,000 to the value of a property. But do consider the ceiling height. You don't want to be at the pack of Nurofen every time you go upstairs and hit your head.

5. Bargain basement?

If you can’t go upwards or outwards, the only way is down. Basement conversions can be expensive (from around £300 per square foot), but prices per square foot are worth upwards of £600 in some urban areas. A no brainer.

Five ways to waste money on your property

1. My way or the highway

Keep individual expressions of style filed under 'easy and cheap to replace'. If a fuschia pink pebble-dashed exterior is what makes you smile, who are we to judge? Just don’t expect us to pay for it.

2. Play by the rules

We’re all for homely experimentation, but there are a few commandments which even the most leftfield of architects would happily preach from the mount. Unless you live in a bungalow, ground floor bathrooms are a bad idea.

3. Itchin’ for a kitchen?

The heart of the home it might be, but for the kitchen is often the first organ which ends up on a buyer's transplant list. Show off the space rather than the Italian cabinetry, and put your money into down lighters rather than down payments.

4. Fatal Extension

A brand new extension does nothing for a pre-50s relic, so respect the proportions and style of your property when planning to extend. Consider the flow of the property carefully – a playroom sandwiched by a dining room and kitchen might look fine on paper but could cause noisy nightmares once built.

5. A pool and his money…

Anyone ‘investing in a swimming pool’ is an idiot, naïve or Sebastian Coe. You splurge and splash out on a swimming pool. You don’t invest in a swimming pool. They’re expensive to build and labour intensive to maintain – whoever says differently is probably trying to sell you one.

Renovating is fun till the budget starts haemorrhaging, so we asked the professionals where it's worthing splashing out and where to count those pennies. Read our guide to smart renovating and learn how to spruce up your property for profit.

Move or improve? Which will you do? Post a comment below.