Home shopping season is quickly approaching, which means home sellers are busy cleaning, painting, decluttering, landscaping and deciding which other projects might reap the greatest reward given limited time and money. Their best bet: Once the curb appeal projects are done, tackle the bathrooms.

The typical seller has 13 years’ worth of wear and tear on their home, and that can make it tough to know where to start. But we know they do: Sellers average 2.2 renovations or improvements to prepare to sell their home, with 79% making at least one[i]. And for good reason: Nearly a quarter of sellers who make improvements sell above list price, compared with 16% of sellers who don’t.

The key is making smart decisions about what to upgrade, because home-improvement projects don’t necessarily pay for themselves — and some improvements actually cost more than they return in value.

This roundup of research on the return sellers get from a variety of projects shows that a smaller, inexpensive upgrade typically brings a bigger reward than a more involved and time-consuming one.

For the biggest payoff:

• Dive into the “curb appeal” projects first, and be smart with them. New paint inside and out and basic landscaping and yard care typically runs about $3,000, according to recent research by Zillow and Thumbtack, and those are typically the most common and necessary improvements. Choosing the right eye-catching colors can increase a home’s value far beyond just the appeal of new paint. A Zillow analysis found that yellow homes sell for nearly $3,500 less than expected, while the right color door can lead to an extra $6,000 in a seller’s pocket.
• Upgrade the bathrooms (but not too much). A mid-range bathroom remodel — replacing the toilet, tub and light fixtures, adding a double sink, tiling the floor and hanging some wallpaper — typically results in a $1.71 increase in home value for every dollar spent, if the bathroom is at least 25 years old. But an upscale bathroom remodel — top-end features, full-body-wash shower wall, bidet — will actually cost a seller, adding just 87 cents of home value for every dollar spent[ii].
• Install new windows. New mid-range windows can return $1.15 for every dollar, but get too fancy and you’ll end up breaking even.
• Pay attention to current design trends. Warm modernism and organic accents are in; bold colors and an overtly rustic feel are out. The right design can show buyers the potential in your home.

Less likely to pay off:

• Focus on the kitchen. Kitchen renovations, at any level, are among the worst return on investment of the home improvements we studied, at about 50 cents on the dollar. Part of the reason is that the kitchen is one of the few rooms in a house where different people want different utility. You could spend $30,000 renovating a kitchen only to turn off some potential buyers who would have done it differently.
• Bother with the basement. The only renovation we studied that paid off worse than a kitchen remodel was finishing a basement, at a bit less than 50 cents on the dollar, even if you add a bathroom.

An important thing to consider is that these figures reflect national averages, not local real estate markets. The definitions of “mid-range” and “upscale” can vary widely from Manhattan, New York, to Manhattan, Kansas.

[i] Data from the 2018 Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report.
[ii] Data from Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate.