8 Things To Do After Closing On Your New Home
When the time has come that you have finally closed on your new home and gotten the keys, then it is important to consider some next steps. Before you start redecorating and planning your future housewarming parties, make sure you get down to some essential business first. Here are some things you will want to be sure you take care of.
Insurance
For anyone that has a mortgage, homeowners insurance (and possibly flood insurance) will be required. However, make sure you don’t forget about your contents too. Discuss this with your agent and see if you can even do a bundle with your automobiles too and save.
Change The Locks
You never know who the previous owner has handed keys out to. Possibly friends, old tenants, repairmen, etc. Have some peace of mind and change the locks so you know only you have access to your new home. The same goes for any keypads or door codes as well – give those an update too.
Change Your Address
You may have thought ahead to change your address at the post office, but you will still need to manually update all of your other important information too such as credit cards, drivers license, etc. Make a checklist and run through everything so there are no hiccups down the road.
Clean and Fix
As soon as you get the keys, do a thorough cleaning and take the opportunity to repair anything that may need fixing. Moving into a clean and turnkey home will make things go so much smoother.
Create a Maintenance Plan
Create a plan with dates for all of your important maintenance items. This can include things like HVAC filters, smoke detector batteries, pool filters and the like.
Check Security
Does the new home have a security system to activate? Doorbell and property cameras? Figure out what is there and what you may want to add. Pro tip: check with your insurance company on potential savings as monitored security systems can potentially save you on homeowner’s insurance.
Go Meet The Neighbors
It is always best to know who is living around you. This way you and them both can keep an eye on each other’s homes for any suspicious activity.
Get Familiarized
Take some time to get to know the new home. Make sure you see where the electrical panel is for any potential problems, check out the HVAC system and how to operate all appliances and the like. Figure this all out from the get go and avoid any future headaches.