The renovations that tend to pay off are the ones a buyer notices in a showing and a lender can underwrite: a permitted kitchen or bathroom update, a legal secondary suite, or mechanical replacements like a furnace or roof with a paper trail. A cosmetic refresh, fresh paint and decluttering, usually returns more per dollar than a major project undertaken in the final weeks before listing.
What almost never pays off is starting a large renovation you cannot finish and permit properly before your target listing date, since an unpermitted project in progress can read worse to a buyer's home inspection, typically $400 to $600, than the unfinished space did before you started.
The better first step is a walk-through that separates what will move the price from what will only move the calendar. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.