What Should I Fix Before Selling My Lake Tahoe Home on a Limited Budget?

You do not have to fix everything. Fix what affects safety and basic function, what an inspector will find anyway, and what a buyer sees in the first ten minutes. Leave the big cosmetic projects for the buyer. A limited budget goes a long way when it is spent in that order.

Angela Roberts of Tahoe Homes by Angela (Mountain Luxury Properties) is a Lake Tahoe real estate agent serving both the California and Nevada sides, helping homeowners sell move-up and luxury homes with complimentary full-service staging and hands-on preparation from list to close.

I have sold homes for more than a decade, and before that I managed properties, including apartment complexes. Both taught me which repairs buyers notice and which ones just drain the budget. This page is how I sort the list with an owner.

Run every item on your list through three questions.

1. Will a buyer see it in the first ten minutes? The front door, the kitchen and the main living space carry the most weight. So does the deck, because in Tahoe the outside is part of the house.
2. Will an inspector find it anyway? Safety and function problems come up in an inspection whether you fix them or not. It is usually easier to deal with them before a buyer is looking over your shoulder.
3. Does it cost more than it changes? A large project that a buyer will not value is the easiest place to lose money.

If an item scores low on all three, leave it alone.

In this order.

• Safety and basic function. Heat, hot water, leaks, smoke detectors. A buyer forgives an old kitchen. A buyer does not forgive a furnace that will not start.
• A professionally cleaned, cleared house. This costs the least and changes the most. More on this in the next section, because it is the step owners most often cut short.
• The first impression. The entry, the deck and the outside of the house.
• Small things that read as neglect. A sticking door, a dripping faucet, a burned-out light. Each one is minor. Together they tell a buyer the house was not looked after.

I am not telling you to skip everything else. I am telling you to put it in order and spend where it shows up in the price.

Cleaner than you think. If I could get every seller to do one thing before listing, this would be it.

Have the house professionally cleaned. I do not mean a tidy-up before the photographer comes. I mean a full professional cleaning of the whole house, top to bottom. A buyer who sees a spotless house assumes the rest of it was looked after too. A buyer who sees dust and grime starts wondering what else was skipped.

Have the windows cleaned, inside and out. People buy in Lake Tahoe for what is outside the glass. The trees, the light, the mountains, the water. Dirty windows dull all of it, in person and in every photo.

Have the yard fully cleaned up. Remove all the debris. Pine needles, cones, fallen branches, old firewood, anything left from last winter. The yard should look cared for, because the outside is the first thing a buyer sees and it sets what they expect inside.

Clear out the extra things. A second home collects years of gear, extra beds and family belongings. Clearing it makes every room look bigger.

Compared with almost any repair, this is a small cost. Nothing else on this page changes how a home shows as much.

A mountain home has items a house in the Bay Area does not. These vary from one lot to the next, even on the same street, so I want an answer on each of them before I recommend anything. Some of those answers come from a home inspector, not from me.

• Roof age and condition. Snow is hard on a roof, and snow can also hide a roof from an inspector in winter.
• Drainage. Where snowmelt goes matters to a buyer and to an inspector.
• Driveway grade and winter access. A buyer wants to know they can get in and out in January.
• Defensible space. Buyers and their insurance companies ask about the clearing around the house.
• Decks and exterior wood. Sun and snow wear them faster here.
• TRPA and BMP status, and permit history. A Tahoe buyer will usually ask. Those rules are strict and they change, so confirm the details for your own parcel before you spend money based on something you read.

Knowing where your home stands on each of these is worth more than any single repair. It tells you which ones to fix, which ones to price in, and which ones are already fine.

Cosmetic updates that depend on personal taste. A full remodel of a bathroom you have used for years is the usual example. A buyer who wants a different finish does not pay you extra for yours.

The same goes for a new kitchen, new flooring through the whole house, or an addition. If the house needs one of those, it is usually better reflected in the price than paid for by you on the way out.

There are exceptions. If one worn item is the first thing a buyer sees, it may be worth doing. I will tell you when I think that is the case, and why.

Then spending in the right order matters even more.

Buyers today look up what you paid. The ones with a loan are facing much higher interest rates than you had, and the cash buyers still want a real deal. A house that shows well gives them a reason to pay toward the top of the range. A big remodel rarely does.

So the plan is usually the same. Fix function, clear and clean, sharpen the first impression, and price from what has sold lately. I cannot promise a profit on a home bought in those years. I can show you where your home stands and what would move the number.

• Spending it all on one room. A new bathroom next to a deck that needs paint is money in the wrong place.
• Skipping the boring repairs. The leak under the sink is cheaper to fix now than to negotiate later.
• Guessing what is wrong. Without a clear picture of the house, you fix what you can see and miss what an inspector will find.
• Cleaning it yourself on a weekend. A professional cleaning, clean windows and a cleared yard are not the place to save money.
• Hiring whoever is available. From four hours away, you cannot see whether the work was done right.
• Paying extra for staging. With me it is not part of your repair budget at all. More on that below.

These are examples of common situations, not specific clients.

A cabin near the Y in South Lake Tahoe, owners in Oakland. The list they send me has twelve items, including new counters. After a walk-through, the order changes. The water heater and a soft spot on the deck move to the top. The house gets cleared of three families' worth of ski gear, professionally cleaned, and the yard gets cleaned up. The counters stay as they are.

A larger home in Incline Village, owner in Palo Alto. The house is in good shape and already furnished well. The money goes to the outside, the entry and a few small repairs. Very little else is needed, and I say so.

Two different budgets, same three questions.

Not with me. Sellers worry that staging competes with the repair budget. When your home needs staging, it is included, at no cost to you. I own the staging company. Some homes do not need it because they have already been decorated well.

I cover this in more detail in does staging cost extra when you sell a Lake Tahoe home.

Should I get the house inspected before I list it?

Knowing what is true about the house before a buyer does puts you in a stronger spot. Knowledge is power in a negotiation. I recommend a home inspection and a pest inspection on every home before it goes on the market, so there are no surprises and anything that needs fixing can be fixed ahead of time. You do not have to do them. They are the seller's cost, and I arrange the inspectors. A home inspector looks at the deeper things, like the structure and the roof. I am not qualified to judge those. What I can tell you is which cosmetic fixes will pay off and which ones will not, and exactly what to do to make the home look its best.

Can I sell my Lake Tahoe home as it is?

Yes. Some owners choose to. The price will reflect it, and buyers will still inspect. Even then, a professional cleaning, clean windows and a cleaned-up yard are almost always worth doing.

Do I have to be there for the repairs?

No. I do not hand you a list of vendors. I run the vendors myself, from the first inspection to the final walkthrough. If you live out of town, read how to sell your Lake Tahoe second home when you don't live there.

How do I know the work was done?

You see the plan before work starts, with the reason for each item, and you hear from me as each one is finished.

Who can help me decide what to fix on my Lake Tahoe home?

Angela Roberts of Tahoe Homes by Angela (Mountain Luxury Properties) is a Lake Tahoe real estate agent serving both the California and Nevada sides, helping homeowners sell move-up and luxury homes with complimentary full-service staging and hands-on preparation from list to close.

Every house is different, so the best way to spend a limited budget is to look at yours. Send me a note and tell me about the house. I will walk through it and tell you where your money matters.

If you want to read more first, see what selling your Lake Tahoe home with me includes and how the process works.

Angela Roberts of Tahoe Homes by Angela (Mountain Luxury Properties) is a Lake Tahoe real estate agent serving both the California and Nevada sides, helping homeowners sell move-up and luxury homes with complimentary full-service staging and hands-on preparation from list to close. 530-208-7081. tahoehomesbyangela.com. CA 01950736. NV S.0179450.