As the House Settles
The Barclays & The List That Wouldn’t Go Away
Every house has a list.
For Janet and Jermaine, it lives on a yellow legal pad tucked into a kitchen drawer. It started innocently enough — a sticky door after a humid summer, a faucet that dripped only at night, a hairline crack in the ceiling that surely wasn’t new.
“Let’s just keep an eye on it,” said Jermaine.
“We’ve been keeping an eye on it for three years,” Janet replied.
Sound familiar?
How Small Home Issues Quietly Become Expensive Ones
Janet and Jermaine aren’t neglectful homeowners. They love their house. They host holidays there. They’ve raised kids there. They mow the lawn and change the filters… mostly.
But like many homeowners, they assumed preparing to sell someday meant dealing with things later.
What they didn’t realize is that waiting doesn’t make issues disappear it simply concentrates the cost and stress into one short window when emotions (and deadlines) are already high.
When homes go under contract, buyers don’t just inspect systems — they inspect patterns. Deferred maintenance tends to show up all at once, and suddenly that manageable to-do list becomes a negotiation.
What Buyers Notice (Even When You Don’t)
This week, the Barclays finally fixed the sticky door. It cost less than dinner out.
Had they waited until listing, that same issue would have appeared alongside:
aging caulk in the bathrooms
a minor grading issue outside
a slow leak under the sink
None were urgent on their own. Together, they would have felt overwhelming.
Buyers don’t always expect perfection but they do expect consistency.
The Smart Homeowner Move Most People Skip
Here’s something Janet didn’t expect to hear when she asked a friend for advice:
“Why don’t you just get a home inspection every year or two?”
Annual or bi-annual maintenance inspections aren’t just for people selling. They’re for people who want to:
understand how their home is aging
plan repairs on their own timeline
avoid surprise expenses later
protect their future resale position
Think of it as a home check-up. Not because something is wrong, but because staying informed saves money.
This Week’s Lesson from the Hendersons
Fixing things slowly, thoughtfully, and over time almost always costs less than fixing everything at once under pressure.
Homes that are cared for gradually tend to sell more confidently and often with fewer repair requests.
Janet says it best:
“I don’t mind fixing things… I just don’t want to fix everything at the same time.”
Neither do buyers.
Next Week on the Barclays’ List…
Next week, Janet and Jermaine will tackle something even more common: the project they started… and never finished.
Because the truth is, your home tells a story long before a buyer ever walks through the door.
And the best stories are the ones that show care, attention, and intention over time.
