It sounds slightly odd. Surely you don't actually make anything until the day you eventually sell? Technically, yes.

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But the point is that much of what happens when you eventually sell your London property was determined on the day you bought it. Did you buy the right property? Did you pay the right price? And, perhaps most importantly, did you spot something in the property that other buyers didn't?

 

That last question is where things become interesting. When overseas buyers start looking for property in Central London, there's an understandable tendency to search for perfection. Beautifully renovated, immaculate kitchen, perfect bathrooms and absolutely nothing to do except collect the keys.

 

There's nothing wrong with that. But perfection tends to come with a price tag. Sometimes the better purchase is the apartment everyone else has overlooked. Perhaps the décor is twenty years out of date and the photographs are terrible. Perhaps there's an awkward wall that could be removed to completely transform the living space. Maybe two small rooms could become one spectacular one.

 

Sometimes the opportunity is even simpler. New flooring, better lighting and some intelligent interior design can change how a property feels completely.

 

And occasionally it's not about refurbishment at all. It might be an apartment in a building buyers routinely overlook, a property on the unfashionable edge of a highly desirable neighbourhood or simply a motivated seller who values certainty and speed.

 

This is why buying well is about much more than negotiating £50,000 off the asking price. A discount on the wrong property isn't necessarily a bargain. Equally, paying close to the asking price for an exceptional property with qualities that will always be difficult to replicate can be a very good purchase.

 

The real question is value. What are you actually getting for your money, and how easily will someone else be able to find the same thing when you eventually come to sell? Natural light, a great outlook, a lift, outside space, good proportions and an exceptional micro-location aren't particularly easy to manufacture later. Paint colours are. That's an important distinction.

 

I also like properties that give their owners options. Perhaps there's scope to improve the layout. Perhaps a tired apartment can be transformed. Perhaps there's an opportunity to create something genuinely special rather than paying someone else a premium for having already done it.

 

None of this means trying to predict where the London property market will be in five or ten years. I've never met anyone who can do that reliably. It's about something much more straightforward - making a good decision on the day you buy.

 

Because when the time eventually comes to sell, you can't change the price you originally paid. You can't change the street you bought on. And you can't go back and choose the apartment with the better light that was available at exactly the same time.

 

Your best opportunity to influence the eventual outcome was right at the beginning. Which is why, when I'm advising someone buying property in Central London, I'm thinking about the eventual sale long before they've even bought it. Buy the right property. Buy it for the right reasons. And buy it at the right price.

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Do that well, and one day the selling part should be considerably easier.