Set a budget, and pick the updates that will bring your home into the 21st Century.

These six upgrades may give you the biggest bang for your buck, and make your home a lot more appealing to those hunting in your area.

1. Open Up

One problem with trying to sell a home that does not have all the trending features is that it may have too many design aspects that are no longer preferred. Remember when everyone wanted an enclosed dining room? That is no longer the case. Open floor plans are more than just a fad. If your home is too boxy, people will decline in favor of houses that do not require as much improvement after purchase.

Make sure to consult a professional before you start knocking down walls, to confirm that you are not damaging the support structure of the house. Opening up the kitchen, dining room and living room may be a relatively simple way to dramatically change the way your home looks.

2. Landscaping

Home buyers are increasingly looking at poor landscaping as a deal-breaker, so yours must be in tight condition to improve your home’s appeal. Experts suggest you invest about 10 percent of your home’s value into the landscaping. You may not want to put in that much right before you sell, but you can certainly spend a thousand or two making the space look worlds better.

Fix the bare patches, avoid planting anything new that requires a great deal of careful attention during the selling process, and look for local flora that goes well with your design. Do not hesitate to use rocks and other maintenance-free features to distinguish lovely flowering plants without increasing your upkeep threshold.

3. Entryway Makeover

You may be surprised to learn how much you can get from a few simple, inexpensive improvements. You already know that your entryway should be clean and well-kept. However, your door may be dragging you down. Fortunately, replacing your front door with a higher quality door will often net you almost as much as you paid in an increase in home value.

As an added bonus, the door will make the rest of your house look newer, particularly if it features current designs. Add a wall sconce or lantern to improve the lighting, and your entryway will appear much more inviting.

4. Quality Flooring

When you are trying to sell a home, the flooring can be the elephant in the room. Having a home without good flooring is a lot like selling a home without space for a fridge. As long as buyers have better alternatives, they will almost always consider those first. Unless you have spectacular hardwood flooring or tile, you probably need to replace the flooring before you sell.

Hardwood is the trending choice at the moment, but you should bear in mind that many people prefer carpets on the second floor or in bedrooms.

5. Minor Remodeling

The last thing you want to do right before you sell is to gut your kitchen or bathroom and rebuild it from the ground up. This is a choice you only make because the room is so broken or outdated that it is virtually unusable. Major remodels of kitchen and bathroom will sometimes only net you half or two-thirds of what you paid.

However, performing some minor upgrades may make a big difference. Consider replacing cabinet doors, putting in new faucets and new sinks if you can afford it, and purchasing new appliances that will remain with the home.

6. Exterior Improvements

Since curb appeal is so important to get buyers to your door, anything you can do to make your home feel less like an artifact of times gone by is likely to pay off. For example, you could replace the vinyl siding with a manufactured stone veneer, to update the space and add a touch of class. Change out your old, dented garage door with a new one, and you will get back most of what you paid; for some, a small loss in an investment is balanced out by more buyer interest.

Selling a home gets more stressful as the weeks pass and no one makes an offer. If your home needs to level up to compete, there are home improvements that can increase the return on your investment and the amount of buyers at your door.