Property expert David Jones of Allan Morris & Jones suggests some ways to ensure how buyers can get just what they want when buying a home.

There are homebuyers who demand the best of everything in anything they purchase. They want the latest granite-surfaced custom designed kitchen with the celebrity TV show brand of oven, the Philippe Starck bathroom - like the one they had on their last five star holiday - and a decor in fifty fashionable shades of grey. If a house or flat does not have these things some buyers will not even view.

But this demand for instant satisfaction and perfection could mean buyers may be missing out on a couple of the most important things in buying a home. They are forgoing the opportunity to choose what they really want and instead getting what someone else really wanted – so to change it again would waste a fortune. They are also missing out on the chance of increasing the value of their home once it has been transformed from flawed to fabulous flat, tired to trendy terrace, slumbering to stylish semi, or dated to dazzling detached.

Pampas coloured bathrooms, shabby kitchens, peeling paintwork and traces of woodworm may not be the most obvious selling points to your average house buyer, but all of these bad things usually mean one very good thing – lots of potential. Grotty can actually be good.

Yes it means more work and you should always get a survey so that you fully understand what needs to be done. But almost anything can be fixed. All you need is the right location: for maximum benefit always choose the smallest house in the best road rather than the other way round.

At the moment there is very little on the market and buyers are often looking for finished homes with a high specification. This provides lots of opportunities for buyers who are prepared to roll up their sleeves. Remember condition is temporary but location is permanent. Also, remember that perfection in property is a myth. So forget trying to find the “10 out of 10” home. It doesn’t exist except in your dreams, so instead why not buy a home that ticks quite a few of your boxes and see if you can perhaps turn it into a “9 out of 10”.

Choose wisely, modernise well and don’t go over the top and you will end up with more or less exactly what you want, just about exactly where you want it. This usually results in two things. It makes you happy and makes you money. And there aren’t many things in life that can do both of these things at the same time.