BEFORE YOU MOVE IN
Counting down the days to closing can be so exciting and a little bit frustrating, all at once!
In the days before moving into your home and the day of, you might be wondering if there’s anything else you should be doing - other than packing, of course. Instead of feeling like you must be missing something or frustrated that you’re unsure in the first place, check out this handy dandy little list of things you could do before you gain possession of your home and before you actually move into it:
Transfer your utilities - This is totally something that can be done beforehand, all you have to do is contact the service providers and let them know that as of “closing day” you will be taking over the electricity, gas, water/sewer, internet/phone etc… they will either switch the services over as of “closing day” or schedule a time with you to come by and get set up once closing day comes around.
Safety First - Take a walk around your local hardware store or hit up the internet for some new safety gear for the house. I would always recommend keeping a first-aid kit in your home, purchasing a new fire extinguisher (because they absolutely do expire), CO2 detector and smoke alarm. You can get a twofer (that’s two for one) CO2 and smoke detector if that’s what you’re into.
Change your address - In the days leading up to homeownership you can call or go online and change your mailing address. You might consider contacting your bank, cell phone service provider, your job… if you’re old school like me and a huge fan of snail mail, you can get some cards printed off that say “we’ve moved” or something quirky and send to all your family and friends with your new address on them. When we moved out of our first house we printed off a photo of our daughter in a moving box - was fun to make and fun to send. So that’s fun. Another thing that I’d recommend doing is contacting your postal service and having your mail forwarded from your old address to your new address for 1 year. Sometimes we don’t remember where all of our mail comes from so in that year, as each piece of mail comes in - contact the sender and provide them with your new address. After a year, you should be all sorted out.
Change the locks and/or door codes - This doesn’t mean that you have to go out and buy all new hardware, unless you want to. You can contact your local locksmith and have your existing locks rekeyed and codes changed. I googled it and the google machine told me that you can expect this service to cost anywhere around $100-$250. I bet your Realtor® has a number or two you could call to help you with that.
Deeeeeeeep Clean - IF you never had it written into the terms of your offer that your new home be professionally cleaned prior to closing day, I would highly recommend making sure that you give yourself some time to make sure that you (or a professional) can get that place smelling lemony fresh before all of your stuff is in the way. It’s just so much easier that way.
Go even deeper - Consider having the ducts and dryer vents cleaned out or, at the very least, purchase a new furnace filter (consider buying in bulk and save some moola). They aren’t budget breakers and should really be changed quarterly - I can’t say enough about indoor air quality, especially if you have some little ones shredding around!
Painting and Flooring - if you have any plans to paint or change the flooring in the new digs, I promise you it will be much easier before you have all of your things moved in and set up.
Some other handy little tips (that won’t really seem handy until you need them) are to take the time to go through label your electrical panel if it isn’t already correctly done. Like I say, until you actually need to know where everything is on the panel - it won’t seem that important. Find your water and gas shut-off valves. In an emergency you are most certainly going to be better off knowing. If you were wise and got a proper home inspection done, the inspector may have already tagged and labeled these items for you (bonus) - I know my go-to guy does this and it is just a lovely surprise each time I see those labels. Lastly:
Celebrate! We have a special little ritual that we do in our family…we have a huge family, and we move A LOT so each time one of us moves into a new home we do, what we call - Pizza on the Floor. Sometimes we literally sit on the floor and eat pizza, depending on the circumstances but when I was married into the family, I learned about the pizza deal and we have always carried it on and it shared it with the people we know and love. It’s our way of saying, “Yep. This is our house now.” Whatever you decide to do to really seal the deal on the new place, make sure it’s special because CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve officially just moved into your new home!