When the time to sell a home is approaching, it’s tempting to remodel the whole thing in hopes a buyer will fall in love with it. But sometimes, a whole-house remodel isn’t practical. When you’re selling a home, you want to get as much money as you can out of it, and that involves smart spending on remodeling projects.

That means doing as much as you can to get it sold at top dollar without breaking the bank. With that goal in mind, here are five remodeling tips for boosting your home’s resale value.

Focus on freshening and updating

You’ve probably had it drummed into your head by now, but making everything in your home appear fresh and updated really makes a difference.

It can mean focusing on the simple things: Put a fresh coat of paint on whatever you can, update where your budget allows- light fixtures, hardware, etc. – clean the carpets. A home that comes across as cleaner and/or newer will sell for more money.

If you go big, do it where it matters

If you have a remodeling budget that’s significant, spend it in the right places. For resale, that means the kitchen and bathrooms. Those spots are where you get the most return for your remodeling buck, and buyers appreciate modern kitchens and baths more than any other perks in a home, data shows.

When you’re about to sell, there’s no improvement that’s going to equate, dollar for dollar, what you put into remodeling. But if you have the money to spend, the best return on investment remains kitchens and baths.

Go on a spy mission

When you’re selling a home, you are in direct competition with anyone in your general area who’s also selling a home. So take the time to go to neighborhood open houses. See what other home sellers around you have to offer. You might be surprised at what your home lacks compared to others on the market.

It’s not as sneaky as it sounds. If you’re selling a home, it’s only fair to know your competition. The only way you can learn what you’re up against is to go take a look. Go to every open house you can, and see what competing homes have, then work on yours accordingly.

Divide and conquer

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so, as cliché as it sounds, your home’s curb appeal affects your resale price. You can spend oodles of money inside, but if your home looks terrible from the street, you’re doomed. So it’s a must to split your devotion between what makes a home attractive on the outside and what’s good-looking inside. If your home is solid inside but ugly on the exterior, go for fixing the outward beauty. If it’s the opposite, do the opposite.

The gist is that the exterior of a home has to be presentable enough so as to not turn anybody off, while, at the same time, the home can’t display major deficiencies inside. If one aspect is far ahead of the other, a home seller must choose their remodeling efforts wisely. For example, it makes no sense to invest in a modern bathroom if your front yard is a bed of weeds and the exterior hasn’t been painted in 25 years.

Take advice from a real estate pro

Real estate agents know which features of a home affect sales price and time on the market. So listen to them. If your listing agent tells you that putting $10,000 into your kitchen will fetch you $20,000 more in the sales price, take their advice.

You might buy or sell a home less than a handful of times in your entire life, whereas real estate professionals handle local transactions every single day. So if someone in the know says: “You should remodel this,” you should probably remodel that.

Unfortunately, there’s no hard-and-fast, dollar-for-dollar formula for home sellers when it comes to remodeling to boost resale value in a home. It makes sense to invest some money to maximize your return on your sale, and following a few key tips can help make that happen without breaking the bank.