Tier one: the cheap fixes that change how the whole house reads
These are the highest return-per-dollar repairs in real estate, and they're all one-visit handyman work: doors that stick, drag, or won't latch, cabinet doors and drawers that hang crooked, dripping faucets and running toilets, cracked tiles and grungy grout, nail pops and drywall dings, wobbly railings, torn screens, missing caulk lines in kitchens and baths, and every burned-out bulb in the house. None of these individually moves a sale. Together they're the difference between a house that shows "cared for" and one that shows "tired," and buyers pay for cared-for. This is exactly the pre-listing punch list Ken runs in one visit.
Tier two: get ahead of the inspection, because everything on it gets found
Whatever you don't fix, the buyer's inspector finds anyway, and here's the part sellers underestimate: a repair that costs a few hundred dollars before listing routinely becomes a few thousand dollars as a buyer credit, because buyers negotiate off worst-case pricing and fear, not off what the fix actually costs. Rotted deck boards and loose rails, water stains from long-dead leaks that were never repainted (fix the drywall, then have your painter close it out), loose or corroded fixtures, and the crawl-space-and-attic access doors that barely open. Walk your house like a skeptic for an hour, or better, have your agent do it, then knock the list out before photos. An inspection report with nothing scary on it keeps deals from wobbling in week three.
What NOT to fix, honestly
Skip the big remodel. A new kitchen or bathroom done to sell almost never returns its cost, and worse, you'll pick finishes the buyer would've picked differently. Skip repainting rooms your painter would charge thousands for if the current paint is intact and neutral enough. Skip replacing things that merely look dated but work fine, because dated-but-functional is priced into your listing, while broken is negotiated against you twice. The rule: repair beats replace, and replace beats remodel, all the way down. Spend where doubt lives, not where taste lives.
The order of operations that saves you money
Repairs first, then paint, then photos, then list. It sounds obvious, and yet half the pre-listing calls Ken gets come after the photos are shot, when the sticking door is already immortalized in the listing and the fix now has to happen around showings. Give the repair visit two to three weeks of runway before your photographer, so there's room for the item that turns out bigger than it looked. Your agent will love you for it, and honestly, agents who've worked with Ken once tend to send him the next seller's list before it becomes urgent.