We want to put ~$5k into our townhouse to make it more marketable. Best fixes for improving value 4 that?

You should not expect to fully recover the amount of the remodeling investment right away. Typically you can expect between 80% and 90% back on your home improvement investment dollar, sometimes more, sometimes less, within the first year or two. With the proper remodel, you can increase and even make money on the improvement the longer you stay in the home. As with many investments itâ€™s the quiet power of compounding that creates good returns. By being in the home a longer period of time, you give the real estate market time to increase and you leverage the remodeling investment as property values grow.

At a personal level, you should consider three things when deciding if a home improvement project is a good investment or not: How your project impacts your home's appraised value; How long you plan to be in the home; How strong the resale market is in your area.

Home Maintenance and Repair Projects
Home maintenance and repair projects are projects that must be done to maintain the integrity of your home. They include areas like roofing, exterior painting, window upgrades, furnace upgrade, electrical amperage capacity (at least 100 Amp). You have to do these home maintenance and repair projects first.
Why? Because buyers expect a home with solid structure and systems, then they look for the cosmetic home improvements. Also, most home purchases now involve an independent home inspector who will be looking critically and objectively at your home's condition. Doing a kitchen remodel home improvement project when your roof is leaking is like getting a face lift when you need heart bypass surgery. One is critical and one is not. If you don't have the structure and building systems in shape, then expect to have the Buyer create their own value for it and have that deducted from their offer price, if you get an offer at all

Roof and Flashing: Make sure the roof does not leak. If leakage is occurring have it fixed immediately. It's probably a result of flashing failure. Check flashing around the chimney, walls, etc. Make sure broken shingles are replaced. Check to make sure tree branches and leaves are not touching the roof

Chimney: Make sure the bricks are not loose or missing mortar. If they are, have the bricks tuckpointed to prevent water leakage and structural failure. Check that the roof flashing around the chimney is in good shape and does not have any gaps or openings for water to penetrate

Gutters and Downspouts: Make sure these are clean and flowing well. If they are clogged, clean and flush the gutters and downspouts. Clogged gutters are the source of many problems such as paint failure, leaks, wood rot, sagging gutters. Improper downspout outlets are also a problem that can cause water in the basement and cracked foundation walls. Make sure the downspout outlet drains AWAY from the house on soil that is sloping away from the house. If downspouts are allowed to drain into the house or into crocks that run to the basement or foundation, water problems can occur including ground settlement resulting in cracking of the basement wall.

Brick Wall: Make sure that the brick wall is solid and in good repair. Replace damaged brick including cracked brick and tuckpoint any missing mortar joints.

Foundation: Repair any cracks in the foundation wall. If you see cracks check that the downspouts are not draining into the house foundation and footings. Downspouts and the yard should drain away from the house. If the basement wall cracks are severe, you may need structural repairs including foundation underpinning. This is serious and you need to consult an expert foundation repair contractor.

Plumbing Fixtures: Check that the plumbing fixtures are in good working order. Identify the type of faucets you have and replace any leaking washers or cartridges if the faucet leaks. Check the drainage of toilets and sinks and unclog as necessary.

Electrical System: If you have only 60 Amp service this will need to upgrade your electrical service panel to 100 Amps. Make sure all switches work and all outlets are properly grounded (if your home has 3-prong outlets)and that GFCI outlets are installed as per code in the Kitchen and Bathrooms. If you have 2-prong ungrounded outlets in your Kitchen or Bathrooms, upgrade to GFCI outlets in these areas.

Furnace: Make sure the furnace has clean air filters and is in good working order by performing a seasonal furnace checkup.
These are just some of the major home repair and maintenance areas and there are many others, but you get the idea. Take a look at your home from a critical buyers perspective and see what basic home repair you need to do before venturing onto cosmetic home improvement upgrades.

2. Curb Appeal Home Remodeling Projects
Curb appeal home improvement projects are projects outside or inside the home that are typically lower cost, create emotional appeal and high ROI including other benefits such as being able to sell the house quicker than other homes. This is a big factor when the market is slow in your area.
With curb appeal projects you need to think like a real estate investor. When an investor buys a property and "improves" it for a quick turnaround sale, that's called "Flipping" a property. That's how you need to think with these types of projects. Low cost outlay, high return on investment back.

Unlike Home Repair and Maintenance projects, here you'll focus on the superficial and the emotional. And once your home is in structurally and mechanically sound condition, this is fine.

There are many things you can do to improve curb appeal that yield high ROI and faster sales. These include:

Green Healthy lawn: Edge your lawn. If your lawn is dead or just looks weed infested and lifeless and you're selling soon, it may be worth the money to have new sod laid down. The positive visual impact of a lush green lawn that has been freshly edged is significant.

Nice Landscaping: A pop of color goes a long way from the curb. Planting some colorful annuals and ground-cover around trees looks great. If your home has no foundation plantings, try to add something at the front of the house. A home with no landscaping looks uninviting.

Fresh paint: A freshly painted front door is inviting. A freshly painted house, more inviting. Inside the home, try to repaint any rooms that are dingy or in visible need of painting. Freshly painted clean walls and trim make a house look very sharp and clean.

Clean Windows: Make them shine. Dirty windows in springtime (or anytime for that matter) make a home look unkempt.

De-cluttering the Home: This is a huge impact for no money at all. Look with a critical eye at all the rooms in your home for clutter. Remove all items causing the clutter and throw them out or at least get them into storage and out of site. A de-cluttered space looks roomy and inviting.

Cosmetic Upgrades to Key Spaces Such as Kitchen and Baths: This means a possible new plastic laminate counter top, new cabinet hardware, new cabinet door faces, new $400 range if the old one is grungy. Bathrooms should have new modern lighting, new toilet seats, new (they can be inexpensive) faucets if the old ones are older compression type. Again the idea is to make these key spaces especially, look bright and clean.

3. Neighborhood Norm Home Remodeling Projects
Neighborhood norm home improvement projects are projects that the neighborhood determines as a normal standard or â€œnormâ€. These include projects that Buyers will expect as a required feature for the home to have, and without, will reduce value or extend the time of sale in the market.
What would be a neighborhood norm project? Well, for example if your neighborhood is mostly 3 Bedroom, 1Â½ Bath homes and you have a 3 Bedroom, 1 bath home, finding a way to add that Â½ bath will more than pay for itself. Or if all the homes in your neighborhood have at least 3 Bedrooms and you have only 2, that hurts you. Adding another bedroom will yield a high ROI.

Same for quality of finishes in the home. A high end kitchen remodel might be expected in one neighborhood and a waste of money in another.

And don't think you have to spend a lot. A more modest kitchen remodel such as plastic laminate counters versus granite might yield better ROI where high end is not expected.

4. Appraisal Booster Home Remodeling Projects
Ahhh, appraisals. The bottom line is that banks and real estate transactions all use appraisers. And appraisers use what are called â€œcompsâ€ or comparables. Those are similar homes in the area that sold for a certain price and then that is used to determine the market value of your home. Appraisers have certain things they look for as key determinants of value. For example, the location of the real estate (location, location, location!), the livable SF of a home, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, if it has a fireplace, what the home is constructed out of, etc.
What don't they care about? Well, they donâ€™t care what color your living room is or what brand of kitchen appliance you have. What you want to focus on with appraisal booster projects are high ROI projects that improve the appraisal value and comps such as major remodels or renovation projects like Bath and Bedroom additions.

Typically these will include projects that will increase livable area or core appraisal metrics such as numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms. The reason Basement remodeling does not historically provide a good return is that although you can use the area, it typically does not count as additional living area from an appraisal standpoint.

CAUTION: This does not mean to over-improve. Adding a 5th bedroom in a neighborhood of 3 Bedroom homes will not provide any significant return. Appraisal booster projects need to be done in the context of neighnorhood norms.

5. Lifestyle Home Improvement Projects
Lifestyle Projects are single purpose remodeling projects important to the homeowner, but not to the real estate market and include projects that may be characterized as â€œgilding the lillyâ€ and overbuilding. These fare the worst from an ROI standpoint and some projects may even be considered a liability to a prospective buyer.
For example, letâ€™s say your daughter is a competitive swimmer and you build an indoor training pool. No one is really going to care about that yet it cost a lot of money. The next owner may actually tear it out. Some projects like this are done because they are important to the home owner only. You need to understand that with these types of projects you wonâ€™t be recouping much if any return on it.

When it comes to determining how luxurious a project should be, again be careful the project is not overbuilt.

Doing much beyond the neighborhood norm ventures into a Lifestyle Project and will limit your return on investment (ROI). For example, although a Kitchen remodel is an excellent project yielding high returns, if you have granite counters in a neighborhood market that does not support that quality of material, you wonâ€™t get the additional value, and that would be considered too luxurious. However, if your neighborhood has all kitchens with granite or similar counter tops, then thatâ€™s not considered luxurious and would be appropriate

Classic examples of Lifestyle projects include:

Swimming Pool in temperate to cooler climates
Home Theater
Wine Cellar
Safe Room
Sauna