Contact several different real estate companies that sell in your neighborhood and ask in which areas prospective buyers want improvements.

Also, generally kitchens and baths add the best value. e.g. Granite counter tops appear to be the latest craze.

My neighbor sold his home for way too much money... His improvements were mostly his sweat and labor.

Scotts fertizer says your lawn improvements with their weed and feed can add 15% to the value of your home. He had borrowed a small bull dozer, dug his yard up and sodded. He;s a plumber so he added a sprinkler system.

Ceramic tiled the entry to and inside his front door and ceramic tiled baths both floor and walls. You can imagine his plumbing was mostly all new where you can see it.

Painted inside and out to perfection. Even painted his old fuel oil heater chimney on the roof. Pressure cleaned everything that would be normally bare concrete and added a pattern roller expoxy paints.

Everything looked perfect and spotless. Worked well for him... sold it to a younger single woman - probably her first home purchase .. she chose that house I;m sure for more than for the clean and new look, but that played in as a big part of her choice. She didnt have to do anything except add furniture.

We became friendly with a local RE agent with a lot of experience in our area, and asked her to come over on a weekday to look over our house. We were in the middle of a project list (which is still not finished, LOL) and I wanted to be certain we were doing all the right things for resale, and more importantly, that what we PLANNED to do was sensible for resale. This is not our 'forever' home so we are always careful about what we do when remodeling.

It was quite an eye-opener. There were things she suggested we had not even thought of. Some things we thought were important, were only "do this if you want to, since it won't add much resale value, if any."

Mikie is right that absolutely, spotlessly clean is the single biggest selling point. Even an unimproved house, if it looks 'turnkey', will sell faster than a remodeled house that 'just needs a few things' or where the remodeling is either inconsistent in design with the house, or uneven in quality.

The RE agent said it best -- "People's eyes go to the cheapest spot in the room, and that's how they price the house."

Painting is the cheapest way to add value. This will give you a nice new clean surface. The floors should be in good shape as well or at least look good with nice area rugs used where needed. Paint outside too if it is really needed. At the minimum, replace or redo chipped exterior paint.

A clean, neat home with freshly painted surfaces will draw top dollar and the cost to you is minimal when compared to costs of the important out of site (but expenisve) new plumbing, wiring, furnace, etc.

Replace outdated light fixtures in key spots (hallway, bedroom, etc. If they're not in top shape, replace cover plates on electric outlets and switches. Mow the yard, fresh mulch in flower beds, etc. Wash everything, including windows thoroughly.

QUESTION; Why is that A concern ? I live where i want and do whatever i want to make the house work for me 'An appartment is A short term investment" most people apprieciate the improvments that I have made and am not afraid to wander into most any project,time and money permiting.

leahann,
Why is that a concern?
Loss of money is a big reason. If you think you are staying forever, go ahead and over-improve for the neighborhood all you want. We did that, and 3 years after a $30,000 kitchen remodel (on a $140,000 house, so it is significant) we learned that we had to move. We then spent $6000 more after we moved out getting the rest of the house up to par with the kitchen. We have been for sale now since late Feb, and no offers. We always figured that the kitchen would sell the house, but it has not done so, yet. Luckily, we can afford the 2 mortgages and the HELOC that gave up the downpayment for the new house. But it is getting very old very fast. If we had stuck to the wisdom about not overimproving, we would have sold faster at a lower price, we think.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our listing

"most people apprieciate the improvments that I have made"

Yes, but they may not necessarily want to PAY you for them if they are actually going to buy the property. Many homeowners mistakenly think everything they do has a (payback) value to someone else. Sometimes it does, but many times it does not.