Should You Fix Up Your Home Before You Sell It?

By Diane and Brian Hagarty

With multiple industry awards from top brokerages and a loyal following of raving fans, Diane and Brian Hagarty continue to raise the standard for what real estate service should feel like.

While many people will advise you to fix your house before selling, nobody actually tells you what it’s worth or how much it’ll cost you. It honestly depends more on who you will sell to.

There are two kinds of buyers, and they want opposite things. One will pay a bit more for a home that’s completely done. The other wants a discount because it isn’t. So fixing things or leaving them isn’t really a spend-this, get-that math problem. It’s you deciding which of those two buyers you’re going after.

The problem shows up when you try to win both at once. Say you freshen up the kitchen but leave the bathroom unfinished, then price the home like all of it is done. The move-in-ready buyers pass because it isn’t finished, the bargain hunters pass because it isn’t cheap, and the house just sits. So it’s worth knowing what each buyer is really worth, which group is bigger, and what skipping the work actually costs you.

The two buyers really do pay two different prices, and it’s measured, not guessed. Zillow looked at more than 2,000,000 homes listed in 2025 and over 600 phrases agents use in their descriptions, then compared what each home sold for against what it should have sold for. Homes described as turnkey sold for 2.9% more than expected, and remodeled homes sold for 2.2% more than homes that mentioned no updates. So the work pays and brings more people through the door, but only modestly.

The number that should give you pause is the other one: fixer-uppers sold for 14% less than expected. Put those side by side, because that spread is the point. Finishing earns you a few percent. Not finishing costs you double digits. The downside runs about six times the upside, which is a lopsided bet.

The bigger group wants the work already done. A survey of more than 2,000 homeowners found 62% bought a move-in-ready home and only about 28% bought a fixer-upper, and that smaller group is wearing thin. Eighty-eight percent of fixer-upper buyers said they’d do something differently, and more than one in five said they’d skip the fixer-upper altogether.

Zillow economist Kara Ng named the reason: when affordability is tight, the last thing buyers want is another expensive project waiting for them. It makes sense. They’ve just spent everything on the down payment, the move, and probably new furniture, and the last thing they want is to write another check next month. They’d rather roll it into a 30-year mortgage and buy something that’s already done.

Selling as-is is still a real option. It just puts you in front of that thinner crowd, and they’ll pay less than the market usually asks. That’s a legitimate route, as long as you pick it on purpose.

Here’s what a lot of sellers miss: the repair you skip doesn’t disappear. You only get to decide when you pay for it and who sets the price. Skip it before you list, and it usually turns up on the buyer’s inspection, and now you’re hiring a contractor on a deadline and negotiating the fix under pressure, sometimes against yourself, and it costs more. Handle it before the house hits the market, and you often keep more of your money.

So before you spend a dollar, answer one question first. Which buyer am I selling to, the move-in-ready buyer or the bargain-hunting DIYer? It’s all strategy, and it should be a conversation, not a guess.

If you’re thinking about selling here in the Northern Virginia countryside and want an honest plan for your home, give us a call. We’ll walk through the house with you and tell you straight which way we’d take it and whether the work is worth it for you. Call or text us at 703-386-7326, email hello@dianeandbrian.com, or visit dianeandbrian.com. We’d love to help.