Before you sell, fix what a buyer notices in the first ten minutes and what their inspector will write down: tired paint, worn floors, dated cabinets, dripping faucets, doors that stick. Skip big projects nobody can show will pay back. And gather your records, because they help with the buyer and with your taxes.
Why getting a house ready to sell is harder than it sounds
Getting a house ready to sell is a project, and it lands at the moment you have the least energy for it. Many sellers in Summit, Chatham and Short Hills have already bought the next house, or already moved, or are simply done with this one. Meanwhile the listing agent walks through and has to decide, room by room, what's worth spending money on.
A good agent will be closely involved in that list. But an agent's time is limited, and running a painter, a floor crew and a cabinet sprayer in the right order is a different job from selling the house. That's where Steward Projects comes in. We become the hands-on eyes and ears for both the seller and the agent: one person who books the trades, lets them in, checks the work and sends photos to everyone who needs them.
We don't pay agents for referrals, and we don't take fees from the trades we bring. Our only interest is the house looking right on the day of the photos.
Which repairs are worth doing before you list a house?
The best pre-sale work is cheap compared with the impression it makes. In my experience the list usually looks like this:
- Paint. Touch-ups everywhere, and a full repaint in rooms with scuffed walls or a strong color. Fresh paint photographs well and tells a buyer the house was looked after.
- Kitchen cabinets. If the boxes are solid, a professional spray finish on the doors and frames can change a kitchen for a fraction of what new cabinets cost.
- Countertops. Etched or chipped marble can often be honed and repaired instead of replaced. Here's why sealed marble still gets dull spots.
- Floors. Refinish worn areas, or the whole floor if traffic patterns show.
- The small things an inspector writes down: dripping faucets, loose handrails, missing switch plates, doors that won't latch. Each one is minor. A page of them makes a buyer wonder what else was skipped. Old doors are often an easy fix; here's how to fix an old door that won't close.
- The driveway. Repaving is rarely worth it before a sale. Crack filling and a fresh seal coat usually do what the listing photos need.
Some sellers ask about opening up a room by removing a wall. It can make a real difference to how a house shows, but only if a contractor or engineer confirms the wall isn't load-bearing, the town issues a permit, and there's time to finish properly before listing. Half-finished is worse than not started.
What isn't worth fixing before a sale?
A full kitchen or bathroom remodel rarely makes sense right before listing. The next owner will probably want to choose those finishes, and the project can push your listing date back by months. The same goes for anything that reflects your taste more than the house's condition. Your agent knows what buyers in your town are paying for; ask them before you spend.
What does New Jersey require before you sell a house?
New Jersey requires the owner to get a certificate of smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm and portable fire extinguisher compliance before a one- or two-family house is sold. The local fire official issues it after an inspection, and each town books those inspections on its own schedule, so ask early.
Before the inspection, test every alarm, check the date printed on the back of each one, and put in fresh batteries. Alarms past their replacement date need replacing. If the alarms are hardwired, that's a job for a licensed electrician.
How do maintenance records help when you sell a house?
Maintenance records help because a buyer's inspector can see what was done instead of guessing. A dated history of every system, with model numbers, install dates, service visits and photographs, answers the questions that usually turn into price negotiations.
For our Steward Maintenance clients, we keep that history as the home record, with every invoice itemized. When a client sells, the home record can go to the new owner on the client's written instruction. A house we've looked after for years also tends to have a short pre-sale list, because the small things were fixed when they came up.
Do repairs before selling lower your capital gains tax?
Mostly, no. Repairs and maintenance don't reduce the taxable gain on a house. Improvements do. The difference matters a lot in towns where houses bought ten or fifteen years ago have gone up enormously in value.
Here's how it works. Your gain is roughly what you sell for, minus what the house cost you. "What it cost you" is called your basis. It starts with the purchase price and goes up with every improvement you make.
The IRS explains the line in Publication 523, Selling Your Home. An improvement adds value to the house, makes it last longer, or adapts it to a new use. Its examples include a new roof, a new water heater, central air, a heating system, storm windows, insulation, new flooring, built-in appliances and a modernized kitchen. Painting, fixing leaks, filling cracks and replacing broken hardware are repairs, and they don't count. The exception is repair-type work done as part of a larger remodeling job, which counts with the rest of the project.
Think of it like a car. A new engine changes what the car cost you. Oil changes don't, however many you paid for.
A made-up example with round numbers. A married couple bought a house for $900,000 and sells it for $2.2 million. The gain is $1.3 million before selling costs. If they meet the ownership and use rules, they can exclude $500,000 of that, which leaves $800,000. If they can show $60,000 of improvements over the years, say a water heater, central air, new storm windows and a kitchen update, the taxable part drops to $740,000. Selling costs such as the agent's commission reduce it further.
The exclusion is $250,000 for a single filer and $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, as long as you owned the house and lived in it for at least two of the five years before the sale. New Jersey works the same way: the state calculates the gain on a home sale the same way the IRS does. Several bills in Congress would raise or remove those limits. None had become law when we wrote this in November 2026.
The trouble is that most people keep the invoice for the big renovation and lose the water heater, the storm doors and the attic insulation from twelve years ago. An itemized record kept as you go makes it much easier for your accountant to separate improvements from repairs. We're not accountants, and we don't decide what counts. We keep the paper so your accountant can. If you've just bought, start that file now; here's what to do in a new house before you move in.
When to call a professional
- Tax questions. What counts as an improvement on your return is your accountant's call, not ours.
- Taking out a wall. A contractor or engineer confirms it isn't load-bearing, and the town issues a permit first.
- Anything electrical beyond resetting a breaker or a GFCI outlet, including hardwired smoke alarms and any outlet the inspector flags.
- A gas smell. Leave the house and call the gas utility or 911 from outside.
- Anything on the roof or above a six-foot ladder. Look from the ground and call a roofer.
- Sanding old paint in a pre-1978 house. That needs a painter certified for lead-safe work.
If you'd like someone to take the whole pre-sale list off your plate, here's how Steward Projects works.
Frequently asked questions
Does painting before selling add to my home's basis?
No, not on its own. The IRS treats painting as a repair. It can count when it's part of a larger remodeling project, such as painting a kitchen you're also renovating.
Do I need a smoke detector certificate to sell a house in New Jersey?
Yes. The owner has to get a certificate covering smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and a portable fire extinguisher from the local enforcing agency before the house is sold. Ask your town's fire official how far ahead to book the inspection.
Should I repave my driveway before selling?
Usually not. Crack filling and a seal coat cost far less and look good in photos. Repaving makes sense only if the driveway is failing, and then it's worth asking your agent whether a credit to the buyer is the better route.
Can you get my house ready to sell if I've already moved away?
Yes. That's when it helps most. We let the trades in, check the work, keep your agent updated and send you photos, so you can make every decision from wherever you are.
If you're already halfway to the next house and would rather someone else got this one ready, that's what we do.
The Home Steward is a home management service based in Summit, New Jersey, run by Sebastian and Kory, caring for homes in Summit, Chatham, Short Hills and Millburn.
