Our clients often ask: “Should I make any changes or remodel before I sell?” Usually, a kitchen, bathroom, paint or flooring comes up. The most recent Remodeling Impact Report from the National Association of REALTORS® offers an interesting way to think about that decision. It looks at remodeling from two very different perspectives:
- How homeowners feel about the work after it is completed.
- How much of the cost may be returned in resale value.
The reasoning behind remodeling before a sale is understandable: buyers like updated homes, so updating the home should improve the sale. Usually it does, but whether that is enough to justify the cost is a separate question. And the answer changes from home to home.
Remodeling to Live vs. Remodeling to Sell
Owners gave kitchen upgrades, new primary suites and new roofing a perfect 10 out of 10 on the “Joy Score,” which measures how satisfied owners are with a completed project. Yet none of those were at the top of the report in terms of estimated cost recovery at resale.
A new front door topped the list at 100% estimated cost recovery. A closet renovation came in at 83%. A complete kitchen renovation was estimated at roughly 60%, and a new primary suite at 54%. These are national survey estimates, not guarantees, but the difference makes sense. If you remodel a kitchen and live with it for 10 years, 10 years of using that kitchen is part of the return. If you remodel it three months before listing, you pay for the work and the buyer gets most of the use of it. Rarely will the buyer simply repay the full cost.
Buyers Price Uncertainty, Not Cost
The calculation may be different when something is actually wrong. A house with a failing roof either sells with a failing roof or it sells with a new one. Either way, the roof gets paid for. The seller is often deciding whether to pay the roofer’s price before listing or take their chances with the buyer’s view of the cost during inspection negotiations.
A buyer standing in a house with a stained ceiling does not know what the repair will cost. Something is wrong, yet during a showing the buyer usually has no way to size the problem. When buyers cannot size a repair, they often assume the larger, worst-case version of it. A $10,000 problem may result in a $20,000 discount because of the uncertainty. Or worse, the buyer decides the house is going to be too much of a project and moves on to the next one. Repairing something broken removes a question the buyer would otherwise answer on their own.
A new kitchen does something different. It replaces one set of finishes with another, and the buyer may or may not share your taste.
What We Look At Before a Home Is Listed
When we walk through a home before a sale, we are not making a list of everything that could be newer or aesthetically different. We are looking at what is likely to affect how buyers respond to the home and whether the work has meaningful financial upside for the seller. Every seller also has a different tolerance for the time, cost and disruption involved. Doing work pre-listing also takes some fortitude: there is always a leap of faith that the total effort will be worth the return.
We generally think about the work in three categories:
- Conditions that are actually wrong: leaks, broken systems, damaged materials, safety concerns and other issues likely to become significant during inspections.
- Conditions that hurt presentation: some of the above issues, plus worn paint, tired flooring, poor lighting, neglected landscaping and other things that can make a sound home feel neglected, turn off buyer interest or unnecessarily push it toward the “fixer” category.
- Things that are simply dated: depending on the home, changes may significantly affect the price, or may not be financially worthwhile.
Those categories get different treatment. An old roof can quickly become a concern about cost, insurance and what else may have been deferred. Worn paint can make a good house feel poorly maintained. An older kitchen that is clean and functional often reads as exactly what it is: an older kitchen. The competing homes matter too. Buyers are comparing the property to everything else available for roughly the same money. If the condition is typical for the neighborhood and reflected in the price, buyers may not pay enough more to justify doing a lot of expensive work.
Sometimes the rules change entirely. If the home is already a fixer and the likely buyer expects to undertake a major remodel, replacing the roof beforehand may accomplish very little. The decision is specific to the home, the market and the likely buyer.
Before You Spend the Money
The useful question is not whether a project would make the home nicer. Most would. The question is whether the current condition is costing you something. Work that removes a reason for a buyer to hesitate is often extremely helpful. Work that involves choosing finishes and preferences for a buyer you have never met is harder to value.
The market does not reimburse receipts. It prices what it sees. The judgment is knowing what to fix, what to improve and what to leave alone.
Let us help you make those difficult calls.
Your Trusted Advisors,
Peter and Tregg
Copyright © 2026 Peter Maurice and Tregg Rustad. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution of this content is prohibited.
