diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/init/base.js b/lib/workers/repository/init/base.js
index 53d3af39dfd847f0207afe1e9b11b0e45fca8ad0..49fdcffe0e20d15e0f6d74eb4c6888d9c78e22b8 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/init/base.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/init/base.js
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 async function checkBaseBranch(config) {
+  logger.debug('checkBaseBranch()');
+  logger.debug(`config.repoIsOnboarded=${config.repoIsOnboarded}`);
   let error = [];
   if (config.baseBranch) {
     // Renovate should read content and target PRs here
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/init/index.js b/lib/workers/repository/init/index.js
index 75934c80fd9335db1e447b7818ced2cea33f7e68..a734e12e243d757473bb438b69c6ebe4b9b16138 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/init/index.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/init/index.js
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ async function initRepo(input) {
   config = await checkOnboardingBranch(config);
   config = await mergeRenovateConfig(config);
   checkIfConfigured(config);
-  await checkBaseBranch(config);
-  logger.debug(`config.repoIsOnboarded=${config.repoIsOnboarded}`);
+  config = await checkBaseBranch(config);
   return config;
 }