As a marketing expert I advocate that my Sellers become marketeers too when selling their home. The top 5 home improvements that Realtors advocate to home sellers based on cost and return on investment (from highest to lowest ROI) are as follows:

1. Cleanup and un-cluttering ($200 cost / $1,700 cost increase / 872% ROI)

2. Home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 cost increase / 586% ROI)

3. Lightening and brightening ($230 cost / $1,300 cost increase / 572% ROI)

4. Landscaping ($320 cost / $1,500 cost increase / 473% ROI)

5. Repairing plumbing ($385 cost / $1,250 cost increase / 327% ROI)

Cleanup and un-cluttering continues to rate for the best advised home improvement (as the study was originally done in 2000), suggested by 98% of Realtors, costing lower than $200 and bringing back the value by almost $1,700 to the home’s sale cost, or an 872% roi.

Soem of the most affordable, do-it-yourself home improvements include: updating electrical, replacing or shampooing carpets, painting interior walls, repairing damaged floors, updating kitchen, painting outside of home, and updating bathrooms.

The home improvement projects with the highest price increases to a home’s resale value are updating the kitchen ($1,200 cost / $2,850 cost increase), accompanied by painting the exterior of the home ($900 cost / $1,815 cost increase) and home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 cost increase).