So, this is a common question I get from a lot of sellers: 

Should i renovate my property to make it more attractive?  And will i make more money if I put x amount of money? 

So, why dont we take a look at that for a moment.  

First of all, lets dismiss an urban myth  back when the market was hot, that if you renovated the kitchen or a bathroom, that there was a return on investment if you did so. 

Well, the market was going up anyways, so yes, people got a higher price but was it the market shift or was it the improvements? And lastly, what would you have netted if you didnt spend money on improvements? 

Ok so you're thinking of doing improvements before you put your house on the market? 

The answer to that is that your REALLY need to know your numbers before you make a decision, and here are a series of things to be looking for:

How much you're looking to spend

How long will it take

What the market loooks like today, and where the market is going

So, why don't we use some realistic numbers in todays market.

Lets say your townhouse is worth 800,000 dollars. 

And you dont like the way the floors and the kitchen looks so, lets say a reno cost of 20,000.

Realistic time from the beginning of planning to have everything done and photo ready?  1 month, but up to 2 months.

So, here comes the market numbers: 
In the last 3 months, the market for attached properties  went down 4%
So, by the time you're ready to put your property on the market, your 800,000 now has a value of 784,000 when you list, with maybe a little bit more to sell a more turnkey home....but who knows how much more. 

Oh, but you also have days on the market, where the average days on the market has been 40 days for townhomes. Thats another half percenta market decline that you'll have to anticipate

So, you getting your price is very dependent on how soon you can get an offer.

And...if you're townhome follows every single one of your trends, then you'll know it was better not to spend any money in the first place.