What to Do After You Close on a Home
Congratulations! You’ve closed on your new home! Now the real work begins. Before you pack up your bags and hire a moving company, you should make a running list of what needs to be done before you move in. While you may have a lot on your plate, you don’t have to let it overwhelm you. If you stay focused on the priorities, you’ll be settled in and enjoying your house in no time.
Create a Checklist
Be ready to jot down all of your to-do’s to help you keep track of what has to be done before you get comfortable into your new place. Your checklist should involve home security checks, learning about your home utility system, the best way to clean your new home before you move in, inspections and energy audits. Once you cover these basics, you’ll be set up for success!
- Moving into a New House? Here are 20 Things You Need to Do ASAP
- 13 Essential Things to Buy For A New House
- Best Time to Buy Appliances
Home Safety, Security Checks and Replacements
One of the first tasks is making sure your home is safe from outside intruders as well as indoor threats like carbon monoxide and fires. It’s a good idea to change the locks and deadbolts because it’s hard to know how many copies of those keys could be floating around. You might consider smart locks, so you don’t have to worry about keys. Here are a few other things to do.
- Setting Up a DIY Security System
- How and Where to Install a Carbon Monoxide Detector
- Install New Hard-Wired or Battery-Powered Smoke Alarms
Get to Know Home Utilities and Systems
Once you have the utilities set up in your home, it’s important to spend some time understanding how it all works. That’ll help you identify areas where you can make those systems more efficient. It will also help with troubleshooting should problems like a blown breaker or leaks arise.
- Breaker Box Safety: How to Connect a New Circuit
- Using a Water Powered Backup Sump Pump
- Prevent Frozen Pipes With Insulation and Warm Air
Preparing the Home With Cleaning To-Dos
A new house may look clean, but it could still benefit from a good scrub from top to bottom. Cleaning your new home before moving in will get rid of hidden dirt and dust. Plus, it’ll be much easier to clean before you unpack all those boxes and start moving furniture.
Storage & Organization
You can’t live out of boxes forever. As you unpack, you’ve got a chance to get control over the clutter right away, so it’s important to have storage and organization solutions ready to go.
- 10 Storage and Organization Tips for Your New Home
- 75 Space Saving and Cleaning Tips to Make Life Easier
Inspection
The report prepared by your home inspector is a great starting place for deciding which projects will need your attention right away. Beyond that, use your own judgement. Give the house a thorough inspection of your own to determine what needs to be addressed and when.
Energy Audit
You don’t want to be shocked about your first power bill, so one of the first things to do is give your new home an energy audit. Whether you choose to hire someone or do it yourself, this will help you identify trouble spots in your heating and cooling system and other utilities and get them fixed.
New Homeowner Products
There’s no shortage of things you could buy for your new house. It’s a list that could get long and very expensive pretty quickly. The key here is to focus in on what you need. Use this list for guidance and know what to avoid.
New Homeowner Resources
If you have any questions on products that you’re considering purchasing for your home, these national home improvement chains are tried-and-true resources.
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