One big dilemma for many homeowners who plan to sell the home is figuring out how to make the home look appealing to buyers, without putting thousands of dollars into repairs on a home they won’t be living in. The last thing you want to do is sink money into your home right before selling it, but there are some relatively inexpensive home improvements you can make that will greatly improve your home’s appeal and boost your chances of selling. Take a look at a few of the following tips to help you improve the look of your home before putting it on the market—without breaking the bank:

Changing out Fixtures
One of the first things buyers notice in a house is the fixtures. You might have a totally modern, up-to-date home, but if your light fixtures and cabinet hardware look like they came from your grandma’s house, they will stick out like a sore thumb. Changing the fixtures in your house is fairly easy to do, and it’s also not very expensive. You can probably change all your light fixtures, cabinet pulls and drawer handles for a few hundred dollars. If you change out faucet fixtures as well, it will boost the cost.

New Paint
Nothing turns off a buyer more than funky colors on the walls. While they can certainly change it themselves, buyers don’t want to see a big improvement project staring them in your face. If you paint over any accent walls or funky colors, you are helping the buyer to envision what the house will look like when they live there. Painting is among the cheapest improvements you can make before selling. A can of paint costs around $30 and will usually cover a room. You should paint all your walls in neutral, earth-tone colors before showing your home to give the buyer a blank canvas to work with as they imagine themselves living there.

Fixing Flooring
Another thing that sticks out like a sore thumb to potential buyers is your flooring. If your dog has ruined your carpet, or if your wood floors are all scratched up, you should give them some attention. Depending on the size of the room, new carpet could run a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. You might try having it cleaned first, which is much cheaper. Refinishing wood floors usually costs a few hundred dollars, but again, having them professionally cleaned will do them a lot of good.

Patching up the Roof
Any work you do inside your home could be for naught if buyers don’t even want to come inside. That could be the case if your roof is in bad shape. If you have missing, broken or curled-up shingles, you should get them replaced. Replacing a few individual shingles isn’t that expensive; however, re-shingling the whole roof will probably cost at least a couple thousand dollars.

Sometimes you have to spend money to make money, and these four fixes could help you sell your home faster and at a higher price—allowing you to come out ahead.