One of the first questions sellers ask me is, “What do I actually need to fix before I put my
house on the market?”
It’s a good question, because the answer isn’t “everything.”
I’ve walked through plenty of homes where sellers have a long list of projects they think they
need to complete before they can sell. Sometimes they’re right. Other times, they’re preparing to
spend thousands of dollars on improvements that aren’t necessary while overlooking
inexpensive things that will have a much bigger impact on how buyers perceive the home.
The goal isn’t to make your house perfect.
The goal is to understand its current condition, address the things that matter, present it as well
as possible, and make sure the price reflects what you’re offering.
Start With What Buyers Will Actually See
Regardless of whether you’re selling in Ballwin, Wildwood, Ellisville, St. Charles, or elsewhere in
the St. Louis area, the fundamentals of preparing a home for sale are surprisingly similar.
Start with the things you can control.
Clean the home thoroughly. Declutter so buyers can actually see the house. Improve the curb
appeal. Fix the loose handle, dripping faucet, damaged trim, broken outlet cover, burned-out
light and other obvious items that make a home feel neglected.
Cosmetic updates can also be worthwhile when a home clearly needs them. Fresh paint,
flooring, updated lighting or other relatively simple improvements can dramatically change how
buyers perceive a property and are often some of the best money a seller can spend before
listing.
Where your home’s age, location and price point do matter is in determining what buyers will
consider normal and what they’ll expect for the price.
A buyer walking into a 1980s home in Ballwin isn’t necessarily expecting a brand-new roof,
HVAC system, windows, kitchen and bathrooms. But they are going to compare your home to
other homes of a similar age, size, condition and location.
If competing homes have been significantly updated and yours hasn’t, that difference needs to
show up somewhere, whether that’s in presentation, condition or price.
You don’t need to make your house something it isn’t. You need to understand what
buyers have the option to purchase instead.
Fix What You Know. Don’t Go Looking for What You
Don’t.
There is an important difference between a known problem and a problem that might exist.
If we already know something is wrong, I want to address it to the best of our ability before
listing or have a clear strategy for how we’re going to handle it.
Known water intrusion, roof leaks, HVAC problems, electrical concerns, foundation issues or
other significant defects deserve our attention. These are different from a dated light fixture or
worn paint because they can become much bigger issues during a transaction.
What I generally don’t recommend is ordering a full pre-listing home inspection simply to
discover problems we don’t currently know exist.
In most cases, the buyer will conduct their own inspections. Let them.
A pre-listing inspection can create a roadmap that focuses buyers on everything potentially
wrong with the house before they’ve even had the opportunity to appreciate what’s right with it.
And once we uncover something, we may create additional repair and disclosure considerations
that didn’t previously exist.
Our job isn’t to go hunting for problems.
It’s to understand what we already know about the home’s condition, address those issues
appropriately, and have a game plan for how we’ll respond if something unexpected is
discovered during the buyer’s inspection period.
Sometimes It DOES Make Sense to Investigate Before
Listing
There are exceptions, particularly when finding an issue before listing gives the seller access to
resources or options that may disappear once the home goes on the market.
Sewer laterals are a great example in the St. Louis area.
Some municipalities have sewer lateral repair programs that may help homeowners with
qualifying repairs. Ballwin, for example, has a sewer lateral program with restrictions that can
matter when a property is being sold. If waiting until the buyer’s inspection means losing access
to a program that could potentially help pay for a repair, investigating before listing may make
sense.
That’s very different from ordering inspections simply because we’re curious about what they
might find.
The question I want to ask is:
Will having this information now give us a meaningful advantage or a better way to solve
the problem?
If the answer is yes, let’s investigate. If not, we may be better served allowing the buyer to
perform their normal due diligence.
Don’t Confuse “Dated” With “Poorly Maintained”
These aren’t the same thing, and buyers don’t react to them the same way.
An original bathroom can still be spotless and functional. Older kitchen cabinets can be clean
and well maintained. An HVAC system can have some age on it and still be operating properly.
Those are very different from an active leak, rotted wood, a furnace that isn’t functioning, or a
list of small broken items throughout the house.
Buyers can see an outdated kitchen and decide whether they’re willing to live with it. What
makes buyers nervous is evidence that a home hasn’t been cared for.
Once buyers start finding things that are clearly in disrepair, they start looking for more.
One broken item becomes three. Three become seven. Eventually, the buyer isn’t thinking
about an inexpensive list of repairs anymore. They’re wondering:
“What else hasn’t been maintained?”
That’s why I would rather take care of the small, obvious repairs before buyers ever walk
through the door.
Small Repairs Get Expensive in a Buyer’s Mind
There’s another reason this matters.
Buyers frequently overestimate what repairs actually cost, especially first-time homeowners who
don’t yet have experience hiring contractors or maintaining a house.
Something that might actually cost a few hundred dollars can feel like a few thousand dollars
when a buyer doesn’t have enough information to put a realistic number around it.
Sellers can do the same thing when an inspection report comes back.
That’s a terrible time for everyone to start gathering facts.
When emotions are high, inspection deadlines are approaching and a transaction feels like it’s
hanging by a thread, you don’t want to be scrambling to determine whether something costs
$500 or $5,000.
Having a game plan, trusted contractors and good information available can make an enormous
difference when something unexpected comes up.
Make the Cosmetic Improvements That Change How the
Home Feels
Once we’ve dealt with the obvious maintenance items, I want to look at presentation.
Some of the most impactful improvements are also relatively simple:
● Fresh, neutral paint where walls are heavily marked, damaged or the existing color
makes the home feel dated.
● Consistent lighting and clean windows so rooms feel bright and inviting.
● Decluttering and depersonalizing enough that buyers can focus on the home rather than
everything inside it.
● Cleaning carpets, grout, caulk, baseboards, light fixtures and the areas that are easy to
overlook when you live in a home every day.
● Replacing or repairing visibly broken, worn or distracting items.
A spotless home reads as well cared for. A dirty home can read as neglected even when the
actual condition is perfectly fine.
And presentation matters at every price point.
Curb Appeal Starts the Showing Before Buyers Open the
Door
Buyers begin forming an opinion before they ever walk inside.
Mow and edge the lawn. Trim overgrown shrubs. Remove weeds. Clean up landscaping beds.
Pressure wash dirty surfaces when needed. Touch up peeling paint. Clean the front door and
entry.
You don’t necessarily need an expensive landscaping overhaul.
You want buyers pulling up to the house thinking, “They took care of this place.”
That first impression becomes the lens through which they see everything that follows.
Selling As-Is Doesn’t Mean Selling a Mess
Sometimes a property needs significant repairs and the seller doesn’t have the money or desire
to make them.
That’s okay.
We may intentionally decide not to dump thousands of dollars into a house before selling it. But
that doesn’t mean doing nothing.
Even an as-is property should be cleaned and decluttered.
Let buyers see the dated kitchen. Let them see the flooring that needs replacement. Let them
see the repairs they’ll need to make.
Don’t make them look past garbage, dirt and unnecessary clutter to find them.
And if we’re not going to correct significant deferred maintenance or make updates that
competing homes already have, the asking price needs to reflect that condition.
A house that needs $30,000 worth of work generally can’t be priced alongside a comparable
home where another seller has already made those investments.
The goal isn’t to make every house perfect before it hits the market. It’s to make sure its
condition, presentation and price tell the same story.
Know Your Local Occupancy Requirements
Preparing a home for sale in the St. Louis region also means understanding the requirements of
the specific municipality where the property is located.
Many municipalities require occupancy inspections, and timing those inspections matters.
Some are only valid for a certain period of time. Some municipalities schedule farther out than
others. Order too early and you could potentially need another inspection before closing. Wait
too long and you’re trying to complete required repairs and schedule a re-inspection while the
closing date is approaching.
In transactions where the seller is responsible for completing occupancy requirements, I prefer
to plan the inspection strategically: late enough that we’re unlikely to repeat it, but early enough
that we have time to address required repairs and complete any necessary re-inspection.
It’s a small piece of planning that can prevent a lot of unnecessary stress later.
Give Yourself a Real Runway
If possible, start thinking about all of this 30 to 60 days before you want your home on the
market.
That doesn’t mean you need two months of renovations.
It means we have time to walk through the house, identify what actually deserves attention, get
contractor estimates if we need them, complete cosmetic improvements, declutter, clean,
understand any municipal requirements and make strategic decisions without everything
becoming an emergency the week before photography.
It also gives us time to decide what we’re not going to do.
That’s just as important.
The Bottom Line
Preparing your home for sale isn’t about fixing everything an inspector could possibly find.
It’s about taking care of what we can control, addressing the problems we already know about,
presenting the home at its best, and having a plan for the things we can’t predict.
Sometimes that means making repairs. Sometimes it means paint, cleaning and landscaping.
Sometimes it means selling the home exactly as it is and pricing accordingly.
The right answer depends on your goals, your budget and on the house you are selling.
That’s why I would much rather walk through a seller’s home before they start spending
money than arrive after they’ve already completed a list of projects they assumed buyers would
want.
If you’re considering selling a home in West St. Louis County or St. Charles County, let’s walk
through it together. We can determine what’s worth doing, what I’d leave alone, and how to
position the home against the properties your buyers will actually be comparing it to.
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s preparation, good information, and a strategy before the
FOR SALE sign goes in the yard.
Local Resources & References
Real estate requirements and municipal programs can vary by property and can change
over time. The following official resource provides additional information on a local
program discussed in this article:
● City of Ballwin Sewer Lateral Repair Program — The City explains eligibility
requirements, covered repairs, application procedures and limitations of its sewer
lateral program. Importantly for sellers, the City states that the program is
intended to assist homeowners experiencing qualifying sewer lateral failures and
is not intended to satisfy a home-sale contingency.
City of Ballwin Sewer Lateral Repair Program
A note for homeowners: Municipal inspection requirements, sewer lateral programs and
other local regulations vary throughout the St. Louis region. Always verify the
requirements for your specific property and municipality when preparing to sell.
