Here are a few options. I would remove the shrubs in front of the bottom windows and add something taller in the center. I would also limb up the tree on the right to reveal move of your house. Eliminate the storm door and modernize the front door. I really like the darker taupe and the cedar color at the top. With a dark roof (charcoal, not black) and the wood piece over the garage door stained to match and the modern front door, I think it would completely change the look of the house. Don't do contrasting corner blocks, make everything the same color to keep from chopping up the house. Does your siding need to be replaced or will a good paint job do the trick? If you're going to replace it, use the same wide size in a Hardi plank. You won't be doing the house any favors if you replace nice, wide siding with chintzy 5" vinyl. Power wash the concrete step, add a tall black planter and modern coach lights. Hope this helps!

I will preface this by saying I know nothing about the real estate market in Apex, NC, but off the top of my head, a 2,400 sq ft house that only has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths has a lot of wasted space somewhere. Several years ago, my mom, a widow at the time, bought a major fixer upper. It was an all brick house in an up-and-coming part of the city (major US city) and the only thing it had going for it was its location (which is obviously something you cannot change). We all thought she was completely nuts, but for whatever reason she fell in love with the house. She didn't move any walls or add any additional square footage but basically tore nearly everything down to the studs. Everywhere she turned, it was one problem after the next. She budgeted around $75K for all the wanted to do (including finishing the basement) and in the end (about 2 years later) her total came closer to $150K. Yes, almost double her original budget. Since she worked full time, she hired contractors to do a lot of the work, but she did a lot herself, like painting and tiling. We referred to the house as the money pit. She knew there was likely asbestos (there was, everywhere) but she did not anticipate all the plumbing and electrical needing upgrading. Or the mold issue in the basement. Or the broken sewer pipe in front of the house. I just shook my head every time she'd complain about another issue the contractors found. She wound up selling a few years later. She could only list her house for around $50-60K more than what she paid for it because that's what the market dictated, even though everything was new. In the end she lost nearly $100K. Even though everyone and their mother warned her at the time, she didn't listen and regrets having put that time and money into such a project. My husband and I recently finished our basement. A small remodel based on some of the projects I read on this site. But I would never do it again. We wound up spending maybe $15K more than I expected (because I didn't account for some of the things we needed to do before actually finishing the basement, like a new sump pump and having the walls sealed). We lived here during the finishing and because the weather is brutally cold, most of the stuff that was originally downstairs is still in the garage and will be dealt with this spring. I'm tired of my house being in disarray. I just want my life back to "normal". My husband is thrilled with the results; I would have rather moved (and tried to convince him to before we started this project, but I was obviously unsuccessful). Bottom line is these kind of major remodels take a lot more time (ours took a month longer) and much more money than you think. Unexpected problems that come up are par for the course. And then there's the problem of overbuilding/over improving for your area. My mom was definitely a victim of that and why she could only list her house for what she did. I'd rather buy a house that had everything I wanted in a heartbeat. I wouldn't even give a fixer upper a second look.

I agree with @calidesign about the bathrooms. If you close up the door on the right of the master bath and convert the other one to a pocket door, you would have space for a nice, large shower, a double vanity and possibly a little extra storage space. For a guest/downstairs bathroom, I would remove the small closet from the 2nd bedroom (there's already a large walk-in in there) and bathroom door, and convert the doorway near the bottom of the stairs to a pocket door. By removing one of the doors and absorbing the closet space into the bathroom, you will have a more spacious bathroom with storage and room for a larger vanity with counter space. I don't think it's worth sacrificing kitchen space or master bedroom space to put in a guest bathroom upstairs, unless you have guests over a lot (in which case you could create a small bathroom on the left side of your kitchen, but you will lose valuable real estate). I honestly don't see anywhere else it could go upstairs without putting in obtrusive walls in your living room. You could narrow the foyer but because your ceiling are so high, I think it would end up costing a lot for just a small bathroom. Also, it would throw off the symmetry of your house quite a bit (looking at the entrance from the open space, one side would be open and the other closed off; the window would be off-center).

suedonim75- when we have company over, everyone either goes to the living room or the family room. The kitchen currently feels closed off from both. I don't want to knock down the two walls (one adjoining the dining room, and the other into the living room) because I would lose all my cabinet space. Was wondering if there was a way of solving this by knocking down wall into FR instead. (may not be possible, but wanted to see if anyone has tried it)