According to HomeGain.com's newly released 2011 home improvement survey, the top five home improvements (under $5,000) that real estate professionals recommend to home sellers based on average cost and return on investment (from highest to lowest ROI) are:

·         Cleaning and de-cluttering ($290 cost / $1,990 price increase / 586% ROI)

·         Lightening and brightening ($375 cost / $1,550 price increase / 313% ROI)

·         Home staging ($550 cost / $2,194 price increase / 299% ROI)

·         Landscaping ($540 cost / $1,932 price increase / 258% ROI)

·         Repairing electrical or plumbing ($535 cost / $1,505 price increase / 181% ROI)

Cleaning and de-cluttering continues to rank as the top suggested home improvement (since the survey was originally conducted in 2000), recommended by 99 percent of real estate professionals, costing less than $300 and returning a value of nearly $2,000 to the home's sale price, or a 586 percent return on investment.

"Sellers need to prepare their homes for sale before putting them on the market," said Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain. "Homes that have initial appeal have a better shot at selling faster and closer to the asking price than homes rushed to the market with no improvements."

Rounding out the top 10 low cost, do-it-yourself home improvements includes: updating electrical systems and/or plumbing, updating the kitchen and bathrooms, replacing or shampooing carpets, painting interior walls, repairing damaged floors, and painting the outside of the home.

The home improvement projects with the highest price increases to a home's resale value are updating the kitchen ($1,265 cost / $3,435 price increase), followed by painting the outside of the home ($1,467 cost / $2,222 price increase) and home staging ($550 cost / $2,194 price increase).