The top 5 upgrades to sell your house are the most important things you can do to make your house appealing to as many buyers as possible. The market is competitive so give your house an edge over other listings. In order to keep your property from lingering on the market and get top dollar you’re willing to do some improvements, but where’s the best place to put your money? This list of top 5 upgrades will answer that question.

1. Clean It, Organize It, and Clean It Again

As with most things your budget is going to dictate what you do and which part of the house gets the facelift. The most basic thing you need to do is a serious, deep clean. This means washing the kitchen cabin

ets insideand out, refolding and stacking all the linens in the closet, and purging flat surfaces of all superfluous knick-knacks. Clean like your mother-in-law is coming to visit. If you don’t have time for this, hire someone, it’s money well spent.

When you do this deep clean it's a good time to de-personalize your house. Once you put your property on the market, it's not your home anymore, it's a product up for sale, make it appealing to as many people as possible. This means the wedding pictures, family portraits, and pet photos come off the wall. If you can afford some large artwork from HomeSense, Wayfair even Amazon, that's a great way to tie a room together and cover-up nail holes at the same time.

2. Paint the Whole House

If you’ve got $500 to $1000 to spend and you’re handy, get neutral paint and give the whole house a fresh coat. You can purchase a 5-gallon bucket and do the whole house one colour. Have a look at some house-fashion magazines to see what colours are in vogue but stay away from anything that makes a statement. You want to stick with greys, off-white, or light taupe. There are rare occasions where a residence looks best with white walls, this works best in very modern dwellings with modern furnishings.

If you’ve been in your place for 10 or more years without a repaint it’s probably time to do the ceilings too. This can be a bit tricky and if you’ve never painted before you may want to hire a professional, at the very least check out some YouTube videos.

3. Upgrade the Flooring

The next thing to consider is the flooring. You’re going to get a good return on your investment if you put in new flooring or refinish existing wood floors. The least expensive option is new carpeting but you’re still going to need several thousands of dollars to do this so it may not be feasible. If you do replace carpet avoid Berber and short shags, and again stay away from strong colours, right now soft grey is probably your best bet.

Total kitchen and bathroom renovations are best done when you have time to enjoy the fruits of your labours. If you’re doing improvements for the purpose of selling then some smaller changes might be appropriate. In the bathroom, a flooring upgrade from linoleum to ceramic tile is a good choice. If you’ve got a bit more to spend then you may want to upgrade the vanity too. Or, painting the vanity you’ve got a nice neutral white or soft grey, and upgrading the knobs may do the trick.

4. Add an Ensuite Bathroom

If you have a house that doesn’t have an ensuite or only a two-piece ensuite, and there is room and plumbing to expand or add an ensuite that can be a good way to add value. You have to consider that this will likely be a minimum of $10,000 but it will increase your home’s value and make it much more attractive on the market.

5. Give the Kitchen a Facelift

It's not always necessary to completely renovate a kitchen. If the layout of your kitchen is decent but the finishes look dated it may be possible to refinish or paint your cabinets, update the hardware and upgrade the countertops.

If you're going to paint the cabinets it's probably wise to hire a professional that can spray them and give them a smooth finish. Find moderately-priced handles (and hinges if necessary) and either replace the existing countertops with granite or if the laminate countertops are in good shape have them over-laid with a granite-look finish like that available from Calgary Countertops.

What Not to Do

A common misconception is that finishing the basement will increase the value of your home. Don’t be lead down this path, if you’re very handy and can do the work yourself you may break even. If you have to hire a contractor to do the work for you the chances are you’re going to lose money. Finish your basement if you need the space for your family to live comfortably but don’t do it to get more money when you sell.