The expensive moment in a sale is rarely listing slightly high. It is a contract falling apart at the appraisal, weeks in, after the buyer's lender sends someone out. These guides cover what that appraiser will be looking at, and what you can do about it beforehand.
Two themes recur. Most improvements return less than they cost, and the ones that come closest to breaking even are the unglamorous ones: deferred maintenance, anything that threatens financing, and getting unpermitted work documented. And pricing works better from a defensible range than from a number anchored on what a neighbour supposedly got.
