There are many dramatic steps you can take to boost your home’s value. Most people recognize their house would be worth more after giving the kitchen and bathrooms a full makeover or repainting/residing the outside of the house.

But not everyone can afford such drastic projects! If you’re on a budget, there are still plenty of steps you can take to increase your home’s value before selling it.

Here is a list of 10 steps you can start with today:

1. Hire an inspector — While you can easily complete the following projects yourself, a professional home-inspector can clue you in to the problems you didn’t even know existed. Some problems may not look like much now but could become a serious problem later on, crippling your home’s value. Best to nip them in the bud now, while they’re still manageable.

2. Spruce up the yard — It doesn’t matter how nice your home is, if it’s surrounded by a dense jungle of weeds, it’s not going to look very inviting! Don’t worry about a full landscaping makeover quite yet; just start by cutting the grass, trimming the hedges, and cleaning up any trash or clutter.

3. Is your entryway inviting? — You want it to be, as first impressions are important to potential buyers. Clean the place up, add some plants or flowers, and consider upgrading to a more-energy efficient front door, or at least giving the old one a new coat of paint.

4. Clean, clean, clean — Pretend you’re a college student frantically trying to get your security deposit back and get down to the nitty-gritty. Clean windows in and out, remove the dust from light fixtures and fan blades, scrub bathroom tile grout, de-stain tubs/showers, rent a carpet cleaner, etc. You can always hire a professional cleaning service, but where’s the fun in that?

5. Declutter and Organize — A home full of clutter looks cramped. Get started on the packing process by purging your home of old stuff you don’t need anymore, and organizing what’s left to make rooms appear larger and more open.

6. Add storage — Buyers want storage space, and since you’ll soon be following step 5 to declutter and organize your home, now is the perfect time to accommodate them! Add a wardrobe to a living room or a simple wire-rack storage to a closet for an easy home-value boost.

7. Light things up — Replace heavy drapes with blinds or shutters to make your home brighter and seem larger and more open. Add mirrors to spread light around and make small cramped rooms and hallways seem larger than they really are. Head to a local estate sale and grab one for cheap! Upgrade to brighter, more energy-efficient light fixtures, and install dimmer switches.

8. Update your kitchen — The kitchen is the single best room to upgrade to maximize a home’s value. Some simple upgrades can go a long way here, like shiny new knobs/handles for your cabinets, drawers and faucets and eco-friendlier parts for your faucets. Check out Danco.com for water-saving plumbing parts and DIY plumbing tutorials.

9. Update your bathroom — After the kitchen, bathrooms will get you the most bang for your buck in terms of increasing your home’s value. The same upgrades as in the kitchen will attract potential buyers: new handles, new faucet parts, and new light fixtures. You can also install a more powerful, energy-efficient shower head, or replace the entire bathroom vanity without spending too much money.

10. Kill squeaky doors/cabinets — Spray hinges with WD40 and get rid of that creepy door sound once and for all!

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