Do's and Do nots for homeowners in today's market

  There is not a lot of news worthy of looking at today so I will discuss another topic that I hear a lot about from homeowners in my area.
  Question: should I re-model my kitchen?, bath?, update flooring?,landscape my yard?, How much more will my house  be worth if I do one or more of these?
  Most homeowners are shocked and disappointed by my answer, which is, doing any or even all of those things will probably not bring you a big return, certainly not the type of returns from a few years ago. The marketplace that we are in today is very different than the one from a few years ago when homes were compared to atm's and updating and upgrading paid you back and more. Those days are gone. The only reason to spend a lot of money updating your home is because you want to do it for yourself to enjoy yourself, period. No mater how much money you spend upgrading your home so it is much nicer than all your neighbors, it is very unlikely that your home would sell for more than the most expensive sale from the last 6 months in your neighborhood. This is true even if your home is much nicer and more updated than that previous sale.
  Prospective buyers are almost always focused on price in this market and any owner occupied home must compete in the marketplace with bank sponsored short sale homes and bank owned homes. If your home is priced way above the market which includes these homes, it simply will not sell. The only benefit that I have witnessed from doing updates to your home and then trying to sell it is that if it is priced correctly, it will sell faster than homes that have not been updated but seldom for more money.
  I know that this is bad news for many homeowners out there but I'm afraid is is the reality of this market.
Good Luck.