What Does a Berkeley Seller Need to Do Before Listing?

Before a Berkeley home goes on the market, most sellers have four things to handle: a Home Energy Score under the City's Building Emissions Saving Ordinance (BESO), a plan for the City's sewer lateral certificate, a full set of disclosures, and the prep that gets the home ready for photos. Berkeley asks for more at the point of sale than most East Bay cities, so the order you do these in matters.

Tanja Odzak is a Top East Bay Realtor with eXp Realty, helping buyers and sellers in Berkeley and across the East Bay. A lot of Berkeley's homes are Craftsman bungalows and brown-shingle houses from the early 1900s. On a home that old, the steps before listing are where you protect your price. This guide walks through each one, in the order I handle them with my sellers.

The short version: book the energy score early, learn the condition of your sewer lateral before a buyer does, disclose fully, and fix only what moves the number.

BESO is the City of Berkeley's Building Emissions Saving Ordinance. Under the version amended for 2026, sellers of single-family homes and duplexes must get a Home Energy Score before listing. That score goes into the listing and into your disclosures.

Then, before closing, there are three routes:

• Complete the required upgrades before the sale closes.
• Qualify for an exemption. A home that already has a heat pump is one example.
• Defer the upgrades to the buyer. If they're deferred, you and the buyer each put $2,500 toward a $5,000 deposit held by the City, and the buyer has two years to finish the work.

Individual condominiums and ADUs are exempt from BESO.

Who does the upgrade work is always negotiable with the buyer. Some sellers would rather hand it off. Others want the home to show as already done. The right route depends on your home and on how much competition we expect. Either way, the score itself has to be booked before your home goes live, so it's one of the first calls we make.

Yes, with some exceptions. Berkeley has its own sewer lateral ordinance. The sewer lateral is the pipe that carries waste from your house to the main line under the street. A Sewer Lateral Certificate of Compliance from the City is needed before escrow closes.

Who brings the lateral into compliance is negotiable between the buyer and the seller. Under the right circumstances and terms, either one can take on the responsibility. If the City agrees the work isn't urgent, it can allow six months after closing, backed by a deposit or a signed contract with a licensed plumber, and the buyer then completes the work.

My advice is simple: know your lateral's condition before you list. I help sellers schedule the inspection early, so any repair is a planned cost and a clear point in the negotiation. A problem found during escrow leaves you negotiating against a deadline. A problem found before listing is a number you can plan around.

California requires sellers to disclose known material facts about the property. That includes standard forms like the transfer disclosure statement and the natural hazard disclosures. Berkeley adds its own items, such as the Home Energy Score.

A few Berkeley facts often show up in the hazard disclosures. The Hayward Fault runs along the base of the Berkeley hills, and parts of the hills sit in a mapped high fire hazard zone. I check your address before we list. If your home is in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, I highly recommend having proof of a passing defensible space inspection ready for buyers before the home goes on the market. Buyers may view a home negatively if it doesn't already have it.

My rule on disclosures: when in doubt, disclose. A complete, accurate disclosure packet protects you after closing. It also builds buyer confidence, which shows up in the offers.

I recommend it on every home, whatever its age. In the East Bay, sellers customarily order and pay for pre-inspections before listing. That's when you hold the most negotiating power. If the home has updates, the reports are a brag that helps support a strong price. If it doesn't, we need to know, so we price with its condition in mind. The market sets the price either way.

Here's why it matters. Without pre-inspections, buyers tend to write offers with an inspection contingency. The buyer orders the inspections and pays for them, and while that runs, you're tied to one buyer. Anything the inspector finds becomes a reason to renegotiate. That often costs a seller more than the inspections would have.

With reports in hand before listing, we can fix, disclose, or price for what's there. Buyers read the reports before they write, and a clean, complete packet can bring stronger offers.

As a Top East Bay Realtor with eXp Realty, helping buyers and sellers in Berkeley and across the East Bay, I walk every home myself before it's photographed. On a Berkeley home from the early 1900s, I'm looking at the same things a buyer's inspector will: the foundation, drainage, the electrical panel, knob and tube wiring that still remains, the roof, and any addition that was done well or badly.

Then we decide together, item by item: fix it, disclose it, or price for it. A full remodel rarely pays back on a home a buyer plans to update anyway. Paint, cleaning, small repairs, and good presentation usually do. What pays back depends on your house and your specific pocket of Berkeley, and I'll tell you plainly which is which.

Both are used in Berkeley. A set offer date after a marketing window can bring competing offers. A home that has been sitting is better served by a flexible approach. I recommend one based on how your specific home is being received, not a habit.

Pricing ties into this. In Berkeley, homes are often listed under what they're expected to sell for, on purpose, so buyers see room to compete. I set your list price as a position, not a guess, based on real comps for your street.

Here's the order I use with my Berkeley sellers:

1. We talk through your home and your timeline. When you need to move shapes everything else.
2. I pull comps for your specific street. What sells in the flats doesn't automatically apply to the hills.
3. I walk the home. Condition sets the price range on an older house.
4. We book the Home Energy Score and talk through the BESO routes: upgrade, exemption, or deferral.
5. We schedule the sewer lateral inspection so we know where it stands.
6. We order pre-inspections and decide what to fix, disclose, or price for.
7. We check your address for hazard zones and gather what the disclosures need.
8. We prep, market, and launch. Going on the market is much more than photos and an MLS listing. You get a professional photographer and professional videography, a marketing video made for your home, and paid ads on social media that put it in front of buyers. Fewer than 1% of agents nationally know how to run marketing this way. The offer strategy is chosen for your home.

The full method is on how I sell a home.

Booking the energy score late. The score is needed before listing. Waiting on it can push back your launch date.

Assuming the sewer lateral is automatically yours, or automatically the buyer's. Neither is a given. It's negotiated, and knowing its condition first gives you the stronger hand.

Skipping pre-inspections. The buyer's inspector will find what's there. Better that you find it first.

Overspending on prep. Big remodels rarely pay back. Fix what moves the number.

Under-disclosing. A missing disclosure can cost far more after closing than it saves before.

Forgetting the transfer tax. Berkeley charges a city transfer tax on top of the county's, and it belongs on your net sheet from day one. Berkeley also offers a rebate of up to one-third of the base transfer tax for qualifying voluntary seismic upgrades, which is worth asking about before you finalize anything.

Here's a common situation. A longtime owner has a 1915 brown-shingle home in Elmwood and plans to list in the spring. In the first meeting, we book the Home Energy Score and the sewer lateral inspection, and order pre-inspections. The reports come back with an older electrical panel and a lateral that needs work. We decide to replace the panel, disclose the rest, and offer the buyer a choice on the lateral as part of the negotiation. By the time the home is photographed, every surprise is already on paper, and the buyers who write offers have read it all.

That's the approach one of my Oakland sellers described in a review: "Her ability to foresee and resolve potential issues before they arose was truly remarkable." The same planning goes into every Berkeley listing.

Start with your address and your timeline. Tanja Odzak is a Top East Bay Realtor with eXp Realty, helping buyers and sellers in Berkeley and across the East Bay, and I'll map out every step for your specific home before you commit to anything. You can read more about selling your home in Berkeley, see how I approach a home valuation in Berkeley, learn why Berkeley homes sell over asking, or send me your address.

This article describes my general process and is not legal, tax, or financial advice.