Always fix: the cheap stuff that reads as neglect
None of these add value on their own. Collectively, skipping them tells a buyer the house has been ignored, and they will price for what else might be hiding.
- Every burned-out bulb, matched to the same color temperature
- Dripping faucets, running toilets, slow drains
- Sticking doors, torn screens, cracked switch plates
- Nail holes, scuffed baseboards, chipped paint
- A cracked or filthy front walkway — it's the first thing they touch
Required by California, not optional
These will come up in escrow anyway. Doing them now costs a few hundred dollars; doing them under a buyer's repair request costs you leverage.
- Smoke alarms in every bedroom, hallway, and level
- Carbon monoxide alarms on every level with sleeping areas
- Water heater double-strapped for seismic
- Low-flow toilets and showerheads
- Pool or spa safety features per state law
High return: paint, floors, light
Interior paint is the single best dollar you'll spend. Neutral warm white throughout, fresh trim, clean ceilings. Refinishing tired hardwood usually pays; replacing worn carpet in bedrooms usually pays.
Swapping dated fixtures and adding brightness costs little and photographs enormously well. Valley homes with good natural light should have the window coverings that show it off.
Usually skip
Full kitchen and bath remodels rarely return their cost at resale, and a buyer's taste is not your taste. Same with landscaping overhauls, solar additions, pools, and anything requiring a permit you'd be rushing to close.
The exception is a kitchen or bath so dated that it moves the house into a different buyer pool entirely. That's a conversation to have with the numbers in front of you, not a default.
The judgment call: known defects
An aging roof, a cracked slab, or a clay sewer line can be fixed, credited, or disclosed and priced in. Any of those can be the right answer depending on your buyer pool and timeline — but you must disclose regardless of which route you choose.
Questions about your own sale?
Twenty years selling across the San Fernando Valley. Happy to walk through your situation, no pressure.