What Universal City and Schertz sellers should repair before listing

Two different conversations happen before a house in Universal City or Schertz goes on the market, and sellers get into trouble when they blur them. One is a legal duty: Texas requires most sellers to tell the buyer, in writing, what they know about the property’s condition. The other is strategy: deciding which repairs, if any, are worth doing before photos are taken. The first is not optional. The second is entirely optional, and it deserves real numbers instead of habit.

This guide keeps those two lanes separate. Every factual claim below points at the office that publishes it, and none of it replaces the current forms, your contract, or the licensed professionals and attorneys who can apply the rules to your specific facts.

The duty first: what Texas requires you to disclose

Texas Property Code Section 5.008 requires most sellers of a previously occupied single-family home to give the buyer a written notice describing the property’s condition, including the items and defects the notice asks about [2]. The Texas Real Estate Commission publishes the current form of that notice — the Seller’s Disclosure Notice, TREC Form 55-1, with an effective date of May 28, 2026 on the retrieval date below [1]. Use the current TREC form, not a copy left over from a prior sale, and answer it from your own actual knowledge. The statute also lists transfers that are exempt; whether an exemption applies to your situation is a question for a Texas real estate attorney, not for a listing checklist.

One more federal layer applies to older homes: if the house was built before 1978, the seller must disclose known lead-based paint information, provide available records and the EPA’s hazard pamphlet, and give the buyer an opportunity for a lead inspection before the sale is final [3].

Notice what none of that says: it does not say you must repair anything. Disclosure is about knowledge, not renovation. A repair you completed does not erase your knowledge of the event it fixed, and concealing a known condition to avoid writing it down is the one strategy that reliably ends badly. When the duty is clear, the strategy conversation can start honestly.

The pre-listing checks we run with sellers

1. Read the current disclosure form before you touch a toolbox. Print the current TREC Seller’s Disclosure Notice [1] and go through it room by room while you can still do something about the answers. The form tells you exactly which conditions and past events Texas expects you to speak to, which makes it the only honest starting point for a repair plan. Our disclosure prep records checklist covers the paperwork worth gathering alongside it.
2. Separate function from cosmetics, and handle function first. A dripping supply line, a water heater past its service life, a system that does not cool, a breaker that trips, a roof penetration that admits water — these surface in nearly every inspection, and they are the items a buyer’s lender and insurer care about. For each one, choose deliberately: repair it with a documented, permitted job, or leave it, disclose what you know, and let the price carry it. Cabinet pulls and paint can wait behind all of it.
3. Treat the roof as an insurance question, not a curb-appeal question. The buyer’s insurer will underwrite the house, and roof condition is part of that. The Texas Department of Insurance publishes consumer guidance on homeowner coverage, including a Voluntary Inspection Program that can document insurability for a property that struggles to find standard coverage, and the Texas FAIR Plan as a limited fallback [4]. If your roof has hail history, gather the claim and repair records now rather than during the option period.
4. In Universal City, assume the work needs a permit until the city says otherwise. The city’s own FAQ states that most construction work requires a permit, with painting and interior cosmetic work such as cabinets, wallpaper, and carpet as the exceptions; fence and shed work is called out as permitted and inspected [5]. Homeowners may pull their own permits for fences, roofs, and small jobs, but electrical, mechanical, and plumbing work must be performed by state-licensed, city-registered contractors. The Development Services Department can confirm what your specific project needs.
5. In Schertz, confirm permits, inspections, and contractor registration with the city before work starts. Schertz publishes its permit, inspection, and zoning contacts in its city FAQs, along with contractor-registration requirements and regulated construction hours [6]. A contractor who is not registered with the city is a schedule risk for your listing timeline, so verify registration before you sign a bid.
6. Deal with past unpermitted work in the open. If a previous owner — or a previous version of you — finished a project that needed a permit and never got one, ask the city’s permit office what correcting it involves, and disclose what you know on the notice either way. The disclosure duty covers your knowledge of the work; an attorney can advise on your specific exposure. What you cannot do is paint over the question.
7. For a pre-1978 home, plan lead-safe repairs and the federal paperwork together. Beyond the disclosure obligations above, repairs that disturb old paint in a pre-1978 home call for lead-safe work practices, and the EPA’s lead pages are the place to start on both the rules and the records buyers will expect [3]. Fold this into any bid you take on an older house rather than discovering it mid-project.
8. Get written bids for what you decide not to fix, and receipts for what you do. A dated bid lets a buyer price remaining work with facts instead of fear, and it keeps the negotiation anchored to a number a contractor actually quoted. For completed work, keep invoices, permits, inspection records, and any transferable warranty in one folder — that folder follows the house and answers questions before they become objections.
9. Make repair-versus-credit a numbers decision for this house, not a rule of thumb. Whether a specific repair, a price adjustment, or a credit serves you better depends on the house, the season, the buyer pool, and the loan types you are likely to see — it is not the same answer for every listing, and nobody can promise you what a given project changes at the closing table. That is the property-specific pricing and preparation review we build with sellers before the sign goes up.

What this guide deliberately does not tell you

It does not quote a payback figure for any project, promise that a repair changes your sale price, rank neighborhoods or schools, or interpret the disclosure statute for your situation. The first two depend on the exact house and week and would be invented numbers; the last two belong to you, the current TREC forms, and your attorney and other licensed professionals. Where we could not tie a statement to a public record, it is not in here.

Sources

Retrieved August 15, 2026. Each link below is the office that publishes the record, and each one can change without notice.

1. [1] Texas Real Estate Commission, Seller’s Disclosure Notice (Form 55-1) — the current disclosure form; effective date May 28, 2026 as published on the retrieval date.
2. [2] Texas Property Code, Section 5.008, Seller’s Disclosure of Property Condition — the statute behind the notice, including who must give it and the exempt transfers.
3. [3] U.S. EPA, Real Estate Disclosures About Potential Lead Hazards — federal disclosure duties, records, pamphlet, and the buyer’s inspection opportunity for pre-1978 housing.
4. [4] Texas Department of Insurance, Home Insurance Guide — homeowner coverage guidance, the Voluntary Inspection Program certificate of insurability, and the Texas FAIR Plan.
5. [5] City of Universal City, FAQ (Building/Permits) — permit requirements, the cosmetic-work exceptions, homeowner-pulled permits, and licensed-contractor rules.
6. [6] City of Schertz, FAQs — permit, inspection, and zoning contacts, contractor registration, and construction-hour rules.

Questions sellers ask us about repairs and disclosure

Do I have to make repairs before selling a house in Universal City or Schertz?

No law requires pre-listing repairs. Texas Property Code Section 5.008 requires most sellers of a previously occupied single-family home to disclose the property's known condition on the current TREC notice. Repairs are a separate, optional pricing decision, and some items still matter to a buyer's lender or insurer.

If I repaired a past problem, does it still belong on the disclosure notice?

Answer the current TREC form truthfully from what you know, including the past repairs and conditions the form asks about. A completed repair does not erase your knowledge of the event. Keep your records, and take questions about your specific situation to a Texas real estate attorney.

Keep going

Universal City The area page for this corridor, with the local records and contacts we use most. Schertz The neighboring city this guide covers, with its own jurisdiction and permit office. Selling with Velvet Realty Group How pricing, preparation, disclosure coordination, and the listing timeline work on our side. Disclosure prep records checklist The repair records, permits, warranties, and utility details to gather before you start the form. Market update Our dated market reporting, kept separate from property-specific preparation on purpose. Search current listings Live inventory, so you can see the competing homes your buyers will be comparing.