Your strategy is right: spend the least you can to get the home showing well against nearby comparable homes, then price it accordingly. When rates are elevated and buyers are choosier, presentation matters even more. Paint, flooring, and decluttering are almost always worth doing when a home genuinely needs them, because a home that shows well draws more interest and stronger offers. A full luxury remodel, all-new premium cabinets and stone throughout, usually isn't necessary and often fails to return its cost. One useful detail: updated mid-grade finishes change how a home shows nearly as much as premium ones, so aim for clean and current over top-of-the-line. Trying to out-renovate the neighborhood rarely pays. The homes most likely to sit are the dated, poor-condition ones, so a house that shows nicely is the target. Being the most expensive home on the block is the trap.