By Christopher Browne

Are you the fastest painter in the West? Do you size up the smartest drills and electronic sanders at DIY stores? Are you first on the spot at the merest hint of a drip? If you can answer 'yes' to all those you're the main man (or woman) for 2007.

None of us should be afraid to be hands-on in this colourful business. Why? Because we'll succeed where our more passive rivals flounder or flounce feebly to the nearest pub. Those taunts of 'nerd' and 'saddo' by our partners and mates will soon fade when our hard work wins us that hefty end-of-year bonus.

The point I am trying to make is that the greater our involvement in our properties the higher our profits are likely to be. I should know for I've done it the hard way.

When I bought my first buy-to-let flat I painted and furnished it as if it were my own home. I splashed on a dazzling array of blues, reds and yellows in all the rooms forgetting that few of my tenants would be art teachers or excitable children.

My choice of furniture was a distinctly weird 1980s-style pine and I plopped trendy ornaments on the work-tops. Not surprisingly it took me three months to let the place.

By the time I bought my second property I was Mr Neutral or Reformed Man.