Hey Nerds,
All good things must come to an end and our series on homeownership is no exception.
At this point you house hunted, contract negotiated, inspected, and signed/initialed on several lines. You have keys in hand and are now a proud homeowner! Now what?
There’s the obvious, you need to move in to your new home. However, if you are able, we highly recommend taking a couple of days to knock out projects that are easier to do without furniture and boxes everywhere.
Projects to Knock Out Before You Move In
- Paint! It’s possible the last owner painted before they put the home on the market, but that’s not always the case. Or you may want to paint an accent wall in your living room. The sky’s the limit! BUT we cannot stress enough the incalculable advantage of having the ability to put down drop cloths without your stuff everywhere.
- Hit your inspection list. You have a list (possibly a long one) with tons of items to tackle. If there’s anything on that list from the inspection that involves hiring someone, why not do it when your home is empty? You give them more room in which to work and you don’t have to worry about anything getting in their way. Plumbing, electrical, flooring, replacing light fixtures, and so much more!
- Change the locks. Am I a pessimist? No. I am, however, a realist. You don’t know who has a copy of the key to your home. One of the first things you should do is change all of the exterior locks. This is a relatively easy fix that you can do yourself. Locks of all metal finishes and designs are available at your local home improvement stores. I recommend Kwikset SmartKey lock systems. Why? Because you can easily re-key the lock! You may have a home with this type of locks. If that’s the case, you don’t even have to replace the lock. Simply use a new key to re-key the existing lock.
Fun Fact: If you need a new key, you can swing by your local home improvement store and ask them if they have spare keys they may part with to re-key your SmartKey lock. Also, how do you know if you have a SmartKey lock? The lock is identified by the little hole adjacent to the key hole. This is for the SmartKey tool to help you re-key the lock.
- CLEAN. No, seriously. You’re going to want to deep clean. When I move in to a new place, I want all of the dirt in the domicile to have come from those who currently reside there. Just say no to second hand filth! Vacuum, Swiffer, wet jet, clean the windows, hit those baseboards, replace the air filter, clean the toilets, and all the other areas that you want to know it’s clean the first time a body part may touch it.
- Take care of utilities. Many of your utilities are set up without you present, but never assume that your gas/electric/water will get turned on before you move in. Also, you need to research available options for phone/internet service. When we moved in to our current home, I had to take a day off from work to stay home for AT&T to come out and install our fiber internet line. It involved a technician (who went to the same high school as me!) laying a temporary line, drilling a hole through the exterior of my home into our bedroom, and installing a couple of boxes. Unfortunately, I had to move some furniture around so that he could access where a box would get installed. Fun!
- Have appliances delivered. If this is your first home, you may not have a refrigerator, washer, dryer, etc. Much like many of our recommendations above, major appliances are BIG and it’s SO much easier to install them when you don’t have to traverse a minefield of boxes.
- Remember the essentials. Don’t forget to bring over some essentials items prior to move day so that you can function. These include: toilet paper, a shower curtain, paper towels, hand soap, camping chairs, cups, a couple of plates, and cutlery. This way if you are working you don’t have to duck out to do your business. And when you do move in, make sure you know where you packed things like your sheets and towels so you can wash off the move day grime and pass TF out.
This list is not comprehensive, but it does hit some items that I wish we had known during several moves.
And with that, welcome home Nerds!
Cheers,
Head Nerd