Inside the checklist

  1. What to fix. Sort every project before you pay for any of it.
  2. What to leave alone. Compare the house as it is with the house after the work.
  3. What to find out first. Record what needs checking before it sets the plan.
  4. How to price and when to launch. Decide from current evidence, then set a point to review it.
  5. What you actually walk away with. The number the other four decisions serve.

Each decision has questions to check off and a table to fill in. Opens on the next page; print it or save it as a PDF.

The five decisions, in brief — you don’t need the checklist for this part.

The order matters. Each step feeds the next.

  1. What to fix. For each project: would a buyer notice it, and do you have a written quote rather than a guess?
  2. What to leave alone. A project earns its place only when the expected sale range after the work beats the as-is range by more than its cost, time and risk.
  3. What to find out first. Heating history, permits, roof and HVAC records, and anything a professional has flagged. Find out what you have before you set a price or a date.
  4. How to price and when to launch. Recent relevant closed sales and the homes buyers can choose today, each labelled by its source, plus a review point agreed before launch.
  5. What you actually walk away with. A low and a base case from expected sale prices, less payoff, fees, transfer fees and closing costs, checked against the next move.

The checklist turns each of these into questions to check off and a table to fill in.

Get the checklist →

  1. A fix-or-leave worksheet

    Each project gets a written quote, an as-is range and an after-work range, then one call: fix it, check first, leave it, or price it in.

  2. An unknowns list

    What isn’t known yet about the house, who checks it, the result, and what it changes in the plan.

  3. A net proceeds worksheet

    Low and base cases from expected sale prices: payoff, fees, NJ transfer fees, closing costs and a contingency, then a check against the next move.