What to Fix Before Selling

When you're selling an inherited house, the question always comes up: what do we need to fix?

The answer might surprise you: not everything. The goal is not to make the house perfect. The goal is to make it marketable at the highest possible price for the lowest possible investment.

Here are the repairs that almost always pay off: fresh neutral paint is the single highest-ROI improvement you can make. Carpet cleaning or replacement makes or breaks a first impression. Landscaping and curb appeal sell houses. Deep cleaning signals a well-maintained property. Minor plumbing and electrical fixes prevent buyers from walking away.

You don't need a gut renovation. You need strategic, targeted improvements that maximize the selling price versus the cost of the work. A good real estate agent with a contracting background can tell you exactly what's worth doing and what's not.