What should you fix or update before selling a home in Scottsdale?

What you should fix or update before selling a home in Scottsdale comes down to three piles. Fix what a buyer's inspector is going to find, check the rules before you touch anything that needs a City permit or your HOA's approval, and skip the big remodel unless the sales near you show buyers paying for it. In the Journal of Light Construction's 2025 Cost vs. Value Report, agents' Phoenix estimates had a midrange major kitchen remodel recouping 46.9% of its cost.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, and I'm the agent people call at every stage of their life. I walk the house with sellers before anything gets done and tell them what's worth doing and what isn't, because plenty of what sellers plan to do makes no difference to the price. The cleaning, decluttering and paint part of getting ready is in my step-by-step guide to selling your home, so I'll stay on the harder question here, which is what to spend money on.

Go through the house one project at a time and ask three questions in this order, then keep a record. Each project lands in the first pile that fits.

1. Will a buyer's inspector find it? If something is broken, leaking, near the end of its life or not working the way it should, it goes in the fix pile, because the buyer is going to see it in the inspection report whether you deal with it or not.
2. Does it need a permit or an approval? Replacing an air conditioner or a water heater, and changing the outside of the house in an HOA community both have rules attached in Scottsdale. Those go in the check-first pile until you know what's required.
3. Will a buyer pay more for it? If the project is an upgrade and not a repair, look at what homes like yours sold for with and without it. If the sales don't show it, it goes in the skip pile.
4. Write down what you did. Keep the invoice, the permit and any warranty for everything in the fix and check-first piles, because they go with your disclosure statement.

Start with what Arizona tells buyers to look at. The Arizona Department of Real Estate's Buyer Advisory says that if the roof is 10 years old or older, a roof inspection by a licensed roofing contractor is highly recommended. If your roof is that age, I'd have a licensed roofer look at it before you list, so you know what a buyer's roofer is going to say. The City of Phoenix and the National Weather Service's Phoenix office both date the monsoon season from June 15 to September 30, so a roof check in the fall also tells you how the roof came through the summer storms.

The same advisory tells buyers to make sure the cooling and heating systems are adequate and, if it matters to them, to hire a qualified heating and cooling inspector. It also tells them to check that the plumbing works and that the electrical systems work and are safe. The Department of Real Estate's Property Buyer's Checklist adds the appliances, the water heater and whether the irrigation operates properly. Walk through the house and try each of those yourself, and anything that doesn't work goes in the fix pile.

The pool is often looked at separately. Under Arizona's home inspector rule, R4-30-301.01, a certified home inspector isn't required to inspect a pool or spa as part of a home inspection, and the Buyer Advisory says a pool or spa company may be needed. So a buyer may bring in a pool company, and it helps to know what shape your pump, filter and heater are in first.

Termites are their own report. The Property Buyer's Checklist tells buyers to consider a termite inspection, and under A.R.S. 3-3633 only a certified applicator can complete a wood-destroying insect inspection report, which covers the insects and the conditions that invite them that the inspector could see on that day. If you've had termite treatment, find the paperwork now.

Check these projects before you book anyone. The rules belong to the City, your association or the state, so the answer always comes from them, and when it's a legal question, from your attorney.

1. Air conditioning and water heaters. The City of Scottsdale's Permit Services page says a mechanical permit is required to install, alter, reconstruct or repair air conditioning equipment, other than portable or window units, and a plumbing permit is required for water heater replacement. The same page says most single-family electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits don't need a plan review and can be pulled online. Ask whoever does the work whether they're pulling the permit, and keep a copy.
2. Anything on the outside of the house in an HOA community. Paint colors, front doors, the front yard and walls can all need approval, and your community's documents say which. Arizona's planned community law, A.R.S. 33-1817, says approval of a construction project's architectural plans shall not unreasonably be withheld, but it doesn't make the approval quick, so ask the association how long its review takes before you set a listing date. Here's my post on HOA rules and regulations in Arizona.
3. Work you plan to do yourself. Under A.R.S. 32-1121, an owner can do work on property intended for the owner's own occupancy without a contractor's license, and the Buyer Advisory explains that listing or offering the property for sale within one year of the completed work is considered evidence the work was done for sale. If you're planning to do a project yourself shortly before you list, ask an Arizona attorney or the Registrar of Contractors how that applies to you, and hire a licensed contractor for anything that needs a permit.

The big remodel is usually the one to skip. The Journal of Light Construction's 2025 Cost vs. Value Report bases its Phoenix figures on a survey of over 6,000 Realtors, conducted by Zonda, about what each project adds to a sale price, set beside what the project costs, and they aren't the results of actual sales. In those Phoenix estimates, a midrange major kitchen remodel recouped 46.9% of its cost, while a garage door replacement recouped 248.3% and a steel entry door replacement recouped 194.1%. A midrange minor kitchen remodel came in at 109.1%. The report prices midrange projects across the whole Phoenix metro, so it doesn't speak to a $2 million kitchen in North Scottsdale, and I'd use it as a sign of which kinds of projects tend to come back and look at the sales near you for the rest.

When the National Association of REALTORS® and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry asked REALTORS® for their 2025 Remodeling Impact Report which projects they recommend sellers take on before selling, the top answers were painting the entire home (50%), painting a single interior room (41%) and new roofing (37%). Those are national answers, and they line up with the fix pile: paint where it's worn, and a roof if yours needs one.

A staging service is another one most homes can skip. My listings include a staging consult, and for most homes the work is clearing rooms, cleaning and putting things away. A vacant home, or one where the furniture fights the space, is the exception.

Fixing something doesn't take it off the disclosure statement. The Seller's Property Disclosure Statement asks about past problems and repairs as well as present ones, so a repaired roof leak still belongs on the form, with the invoice. Here's my post on what you have to disclose when you sell a house in Arizona.

The buyer will still have their own inspections done. Whatever their inspectors find goes into a repair request during the inspection period, with deadlines on both sides, and my post on the inspection period in Arizona explains how that clock works. A short list of known, fixed items with paperwork is easier to answer than a list of surprises. This is general information and not legal advice, and a question about your own disclosure is one for a licensed Arizona real estate attorney.

The first is starting a remodel before anyone has looked at the sales near you. In the Phoenix estimates above, the midrange major kitchen remodel recouped less than half its cost, and a new kitchen can't change the lot, the view or the floor plan.

The second is replacing the air conditioner or the water heater without a permit, which leaves a buyer asking for paperwork you don't have. The third is repainting the outside or redoing the front yard in an HOA community without checking first, because work the association didn't approve can turn into a violation notice during escrow.

The fourth is fixing something and throwing away the receipt, since the disclosure statement asks for the invoices, permits and warranties. And the last is doing the work yourself shortly before you list without asking how A.R.S. 32-1121 applies to you.

If your home has a roof that's 10 years old or more and a pool with older equipment, the roof check and the pool equipment go in the fix pile first, and a cosmetic update can wait until you know what those two need. Book the roofer and the pool company before the photographer.

If you're in an HOA community and the exterior paint is faded, it goes in both the fix pile and the check-first pile. Ask the association what colors are approved and how long its review takes, then book the painter.

If you've been in the house a long time and the closets, the garage and the spare rooms are full, the contents can be a bigger job than the repairs. For that kind of move I connect sellers with a senior move company that walks the home room by room before it's listed. You pay the mover yourself.

I'll walk the house with you, go through each pile and tell you what I'd do first. When we price it, I bring three prices to the listing presentation and you choose, and here's how I prepare and price a home. Once the house is ready, every home I list gets professional photography, drone photography on homes from $400,000 up and a walkthrough video, and here's what selling your home with me includes. If you'd like a number first, start with what your Scottsdale home is worth, and my post on selling a home in Scottsdale goes through the rest of the sale.

If you're thinking about selling and you'd like to know what goes in each pile for your house, call me at (480) 203-6605 or send me a message.