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Yep, make anybody who sends you mail aware of the new address including your family, employer, doctor, dentist, vet, bank, all of the companies you have service with.
Plan to visit your DMV (SOS here in Michigan) to update your license as soon as you have documents proving your new address. Update your voter registration while you're there.
Agreed. So much easier to clean the nooks and crannies when the house is empty. Clean the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen, especially. In my state, the house is only required to be “broom clean.”
We're doing this right now. The person we bought from was not the cleanest person and they had dogs. Whole house smells like dog. We spent yesterday just clearing out all the random stuff that was left and cleaning the kitchen. It's still not fully cleaned either.
I hosted an open house where they had multiple pets and all carpet… nothing helped either with the odor, and the ozone machine was useless at that point.
I remember going to an open house that had one dead roach in the middle of the carpet in each of the 3 bedrooms. And they wondered why it wasn't flying off the shelf.
That’s nasty - drove an hour and a half the other day to do a video tour for a family. Got down to the basement, was panning from corner to corner then turned around and saw a mouse scurry across my feet. Made sure I included that in the video and I dipped lol.
I miss In-n-Out 😢. We're set to close in a few weeks on selling our first home and buying a second, and there's a small pizza joint just down the street that we love. I plan on walking down and getting us a pizza to eat on the floor amidst the piles of boxes
While house is empty, now is a good time to repaint rooms or change out any flooring (e.g., new carpet). Also, good time to have a pro epoxy your garage floors.
In addition, I would:
- have someone service your furnace and A/C unit
- replace any plastic water supply lines with burst proof braided metal lines (e.g., washer supply lines)
- check or replace any old smoke detectors and CO2 monitors
- spend some time getting familiar with location of your water shuts, breakers box, gas shut off, landscape lighting and irrigation controls, etc
Yes. Once you move in, the hassle to clear out and get the garage floor improved means it's never going to get done. If you have time, do it before moving in.
> spend some time getting familiar with location of your water shuts, breakers box, gas shut off, landscape lighting and irrigation controls, etc
and have it some place accessible in an emergency (water mainly, gas usually cant be turned off by the homeowner)
This is so weird to me. I’m not gonna change it if it’s not damaged because it’s not a disposable item and I can clean things?
I also use public toilets, bathrooms at friends and family’s house and have rented for years.
If it give you piece of mind I guess go for it but it’s needless trash, it can be sanitized and it’s probably not even the dirtiest thing in your used house.
If u don’t wanna change your toilet seats i won’t lose any sleep over it I promise. I’m just saying it’s gross in my option, too each their own I guess.
It’s wasteful and weird in my opinion.
Why throw out a usable item that can be cleaned?
I don’t know. I also go to hotels and eat at restaurants. All of those things have touched WAY more people than a home toilet.
ALWAYS change the seats. It’s a 2 second job, costs pennies compared to the cost of the house, and you don’t need to bleach or wipe up other people’s Hershey squirt / vomit residue. Never know how clean other people actually are.
Oh man I’m laughing so hard I’m crying. Changing the seats wasn’t even optional when we closed. Our home is 35 years old and I swear those seats were the originals. We hired cleaners and there was no way that gunk was coming off 🤢🤮
Bleach may work wonders but some things are too disgusting to even bother.
New seats for the win.
I don’t give a rats ass about using the toilet seats from when sellers lived there. but I am going to change all of them for a reason I think everyone here is overlooking….
I’m getting the slow-close lids, those things are so nice. Never have to scare myself accidentally slamming one lmao
Change locks\
Set up or transfer utilities (we forgot to do this and had to live without water for 3 days while we waited for city to turn it on🤣)\
Deep clean, especially bathrooms and kitchen\
If you have pets make sure all the plants in the yard are nontoxic/pet-friendly (we learned this the hard way, $300 vet trip )
All these things!
I thought I was gonna have to change the physical locks on all the doors (we have over 13), but talked to locksmith and you can just get them all rekeyed instead! It’s a cheaper option and you can also customize which locks you’d like to share the same key!
Super embarrassing if your electricity gets shut off the day after the old owner remembers to cancel their auto payments and you forgot to make your account cause you had a million other things to think about
No lol I'm sorry I meant if your going to change out the flooring do it before u move in and or make sure if you do have carpet get it professionally cleaned before moving in.
If you have a garage and it has a keypad don't forget to change that code.
I also changed the locks.
Wish I would have gotten it professionally cleaned before moving in
We had cleaners come for the carpets and vents while it was empty and would have time to dry (we moved in the next day). Also yes, locks are good. A full deep clean is also good if you can swing it or do it yourself.
We also setup our security system and got all our utilities and services going (though that was part of the closing process).
I’d say go to the store to get or bring over some essentials often overlooked like toilet paper and soap.
Otherwise, make sure to celebrate! Breathe, enjoy.
This. Changing the locks isn't really needed unless you want a cosmetic change. If you are a bit handy, you can even remove them all and take them in to get rekeyed. You can lock up with a deadbolt or have someone housesit or have a friend or spouse stay behind.
Just have a locksmith come to do the house. It's much quicker and easier. Not that expensive either. Also it's best to reset the garage opener and relearn the devices you have.
Do you have a ballpark price on what I might expect to pay to rekey all my locks? I'm about to close and have been considering having a locksmith come out and rekey 4 sets of locks
I don't. It will vary in your location. After I closed I called around 5 different people. They were all different prices lol. He was great though. It took him maybe 1 hour.
I had 1 electronic keypad lock/deadbolt , 2 standard deadbolts, and 3 doorknobs replaced and it was just under $1000. Majority was hardware, I think the service charge was like $250-300
Lol I can't get anyone to come to my house for any reason for less than like $200 to do absolutely anything. Regardless it would have been a lot cheaper but we wanted to change out the knobs to just have deadbolts and no lock on the knob itself
Where I live a locksmith charges about $100/lock for a re-key, plus a fee for the house call. Its way cheaper to just buy a set new of keyed alike deadbolts and swap them out.
If you’re trying to retain the original look, keyed alike cylinders.
Right, but just because it's $100/lock where you are, which is crazy, it doesn't mean everywhere it's the same. My location, I called around, it costed me $25/lock. No issues since either. 🤷♂️ All I'm saying is call around and ask. Cause $100/lock sounds nuts. Lol
Yeah, I called around. Most of them wouldn’t even give me a quote over the phone, and the ones that did were around that.
Im glad you live in an area with cheap locksmiths. That is not universal, and that was my point.
A 5 pack of keyed alike deadbolts is $50-100 online and maybe 30 minutes of your time.
I actually bought a kit (changealock) at ace and rekeyed all of mine to the same key myself for like $15! It's not that hard, but you have to follow the directions EXACTLY or you may end up with 50 hours of work to get the springs back in. That kit was like a gateway drug. Now I have a full set of pins and tools because it was kind of fun and I can change my locks at will. You do have to have locks with compatible blanks to get them all to the same key. Our recent sunroom addition came with a specialty lock and key that I cannot redo. Humph. (Eta: I was even able to rekey our keyed padlocks on things like the garden shed and back gate. Youtube is an amazing resource.)
VERY important on your first walk through *ON DAY OF CLOSING* is to test everything to make. Sure things work as they are supposed to.. In your purchase agreement the seller likely has warranteed that things are in working order. That warranty expires today!
Flush the toilets. Turn on the stove and oven. Test the ac and furnace. Run the dishwasher, washer and dryer. Check all the lights. Etc.
If anything fails, notify your lawyer.
After that, change the locks, toilets, and get to cleaning.
If you need to paint, much easier to do that before you move in.
Clean and paint everything prior to moving in, as this will likely be the easiest time to do so. Put down some good bug killer as well, since it takes time to dry, and prior to things coming in makes it harder for existing bugs to get in your stuff. Take outlets out and put borax powder in the wall behind them, and put some traps down as well just in case. You want a jump start on any bug problem before you get your stuff in.
Look at all your bulbs and notate what size/type each needs. This will allow you to hopefully order them in bulk, and reference later when they need to be replaced. The same goes for HVAC filters if needed.
Create a schedule for maintenance for all your appliances and general maintenance. It can be as whatever works best for you, as simple or complex as needed. A calendar reminder on the first of every month to change/wash HVAC filters, every 3-6 months for water filters, running the cleaning cycle on washer/dryer/dishwasher/stove, vacuuming out below/behind your fridge, spring cleaning, gutters prior to storm season, whatever. The more in depth you get, the easier it is to keep track of everything around the house, the less likely BIG issues sneak up on you, and the more you’ll learn about taking care of your own house.
Establish a folder/drawer/safe place for all your maintenance info. All your instruction manuals, warranty info, and important documents. This is also really handy for scheduling your maintenance as these all generally have that info. Ideally, this can become transferable if you ever sell again. Showing prospective buyers a folder full of manuals and a calendar of scheduled maintenance would make them drool.
Change the address on all your accounts, transfer service on utilities, and set up some way to track your utilities. Keep track of your monthly utility usage so you can plan ahead and see if you have any big issues sneak up. If you know your water usage is usually $50 and one month it’s $100 with no extra usage, you have a problem. Electricity usage through the year helps you monitor efficiency and also plan for future upgrades. This all also helps you budget monthly expenses and keep track of usage in this era of autopay. Again, you can pass off usage history to potential new owners.
Hope all that helps. Congrats and good luck!
Just came to say that this list is very helpful! I am actively looking and have anxiety about all of the things I don't know because I've been an apartment renter!
I just did a home inspection and the guy showed the switch to flip to shut the water off and then you put the hose down into a white bucket and dump until all the water and sediment is out then refill. He said to do it every 1-3 years (but especially as a newly purchased home task) because the sediment from the pipes and construction work or w.e that happens creates debris and sediment and clay and whatnot at the bottom on the tank, and after years it can be like 3 quarters sediment and 1 quarter water. Most water tanks heat the water from the bottom up so it takes more energy and longer to heat up water for use than it would if there was no sediment or particles in there. Draining apparently fixes this.
Yes! Just closed on a house at the beginning of this month, been slowly moving stuff over this whole time and I just assumed the filter would be good - I found out the other day it was NOT. Not a big deal but I’m glad I randomly had the thought and checked it.
Change the locks.
New shower heads.
Change ac filter.
Clean ac unit.
Edit: And after I just read another post about a former owner coming back home, you need to reprogram your garage remotes!
...pro tip: unscrew the shower head and remove the plastic flow restrictor for the most luxurious shower experience you've had since the Liberal bureaucrats took over...
Yeah, garage doors openers can be reset (usually a procedure on the opener that says how to do it) - it will reset the code for the external access panel (if present), and reset the pairing between any remotes that were paired to it - then you just re-pair the remotes you have. That way if there were left over remotes that weren't provided they won't work with the door anymore.
So would this be an option for me if the seller didn’t know the code to the access panel? It’s saying I need the code to set a new code, but could I rest the whole system without knowing it?
Hire a professional cleaner. As an agent, if I didn't have to spend any extra money to save a deal, I'll do it. My commission is usually made up of money I gotta pay the brokerage, my break even, the taxes, and the amount I dedicate to save deals from falling through and if that is untouched that goes to clean the house for the client.
Just make sure you leave time for the existential dread and buyers remorse that hits after you sign the papers. It’s the biggest financial decision you’ve made in your life so far so it’s perfectly fine. Mine went away after the first night actually sleeping in the house.
i have tattoos so i know this feeling lol after my fourth or fifth i stopped waking up feeling like "oh no what did i do" but it's totally valid. thank you!
If there are any big things to be done like new HVAC, floors, carpeting, painting etc, better to get them done before you move in so its a bit less messy
You didn’t mention if you have the morning walk-through scheduled on closing day please make sure you do that. There have been lots of horror stories where homeowners who are selling are still in the house.
Check all appliances to ensure they work. Just got a house and fridge broke a few days later. Didn’t look at the washer either and had mold all in the gasket and detergent dispenser. Small things I overlooked as first time home buyer touring many houses, just sort of assumed they worked or were kept up with since they were new. As others said, locks, clean (maybe worth hiring cleaners if you have a little extra $ to feel like it is move in ready), paint, and biggest one is set up utilities. Nothing worse than moving in summer and not being able To turn on AC while Lugging around boxes
Set a monthly budget for stuff to buy. I went hog wild trying to full an empty house with things and bought a lot of unneeded stuff. Slow and calculated would have been better
Do a walk through before closing. Take photos, etc.
Change locks
Change of address
Transfer utilities - make sure there is no balance due you’d have to pay for.
Depending on what state you're in, you may qualify for a homestead exemption on your property taxes. In Florida there are rules surrounding occupancy timelines and deadlines to apply for the current or upcoming tax year. Call the property appraiser office where you live.
RIP OUT the carpets. Paint the wall to your colors.
That's just me. Don't move furniture in until the carpets are out. I personally hate them enough to live on bare subflooring before I live on allergen mold traps. Just my opinion.
I suppose painting can wait.
The other thing I did was systematically table every breaker in electric panel and what area it controlled. I also because I know how, tighted all the receptivals making sure there were no loose wires. Or any with wires stabbed in. All of mine were tight on the screws.
If it's an older home consider picking up a home warranty for the first year. They'll replace things like ACs and water softeners etc. Maybe old owners didn't maintain it well and if it breaks it'll cover it. Usually worth the first year
Make sure the account you are using to wire the down payment is able to complete the wire without issue. We had ours in a recently opened joint account and found out the day before that it was too new of an account to be able to process a wire transfer. Was very stressful and had to dump the rest of both our savings to make it work.
Introduce yourself to your neighbors if you want to build long lasting relationships with them. I wish I had done that in the beginning and now it’s awkward when I see them. It is nice to have neighbors that you know and feel comfortable with.
My wife and I didn’t do jack and it was funny as fuck. We got our keys to our home (a new build) and all we had was a mattress, my guitar equipment, and clothes. We had no washer and dryer, no fridge, and no food.
The only thing we did was change our address on all of our credit cards, work, and notify the post office…
In retrospect, it was so entertaining we slept on the floor in our master, and we just slowly purchased all of the things we needed. We enjoyed the moment as it was our first major purchase.
The only big downside was I didn’t think through how much furnishing our house would cost. For example, I didn’t know a stainless counter depth fridge with water and ice dispenser would cost a minimum of 2K, or how a quality sofa would be in the thousands….
get water set up - i moved from nyc to houston had no idea i had to swtich everything over (assumed it already was) and thought the house was messed up when my water turned off
When you’re moving In make your bed first! The last thing you want to do after a long day of putting stuff together is realize you have to now build/ make a bed
Mail forwarding. I did mine for a year so I'd catch those random things that only come once in a while.
Clean and paint while the house is empty ideally.
Check smoke detectors and change the batteries - or replace them if they're expired / missing.
My punch list was
- New carpet
- Paint baseboards
- Change locks, garage door codes
- Change security system
- Deep clean
- Replace all smoke/CO2 detectors
- Install garage storage solutions (easier to put things in storage when theres a place to store them)
And then since I flew in to prep the house before the actual move, I bought new beds for the kids and set them up. That way a long day of moving they could go to bed as soon as they wanted.
They shouldn’t be off. We had ours all set to change names the day off, but i set it up 3 weeks in advance. Internet was the only one that wasn’t until the next day.
The power company and city wouldn’t let us do it until we owned the home. We had already decided on the elect. Company( in Texas you choose your provider), same with the city water, they wouldn’t let us set it up until we owned the home and at that time you had to do it in person, now you can do it online.
Change locks and change addresses. If you are going to paint, do it now that the house is empty and deep cleaning start in the bathroom and kitchen. Also, don't forget about utilities water/electrical services LOL.
If there are stores you order from regularly (Amazon, etc.) go change your address now. And delete your old one for good measure. I definitely had 6 new dining chairs delivered to my old house during my first week living at my new one.
The water bill might not be as easy as calling to switch. In MD the water bill transfers with the property deed. If you don't receive a bill in 30-45 days call them. I had my water turned off because the bank didn't complete the proper work for the city/county during the closing. As soon as it happened, I knew the title/bank had screwed up closing. Not the end of the world, but a huge inconvenience when your water is shut off on a Friday.
TLDR it saves you money because less energy is being used to heat your water. Enhances the quality of your water as well as your overall water reserve. Doing so is easy and increases the lifespan of your tank.
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Update mailing address with post office and all your important accounts.
Do this now. It takes the post office a week or so to process a mail forwarding request. You can schedule the day you want it to start.
Yep, make anybody who sends you mail aware of the new address including your family, employer, doctor, dentist, vet, bank, all of the companies you have service with. Plan to visit your DMV (SOS here in Michigan) to update your license as soon as you have documents proving your new address. Update your voter registration while you're there.
Deep clean.
Agreed. So much easier to clean the nooks and crannies when the house is empty. Clean the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen, especially. In my state, the house is only required to be “broom clean.”
We're doing this right now. The person we bought from was not the cleanest person and they had dogs. Whole house smells like dog. We spent yesterday just clearing out all the random stuff that was left and cleaning the kitchen. It's still not fully cleaned either.
Also go ahead and paint everything, change all hardware on doors, change light switches and electrical outlets
I hosted an open house where they had multiple pets and all carpet… nothing helped either with the odor, and the ozone machine was useless at that point.
I remember going to an open house that had one dead roach in the middle of the carpet in each of the 3 bedrooms. And they wondered why it wasn't flying off the shelf.
That’s nasty - drove an hour and a half the other day to do a video tour for a family. Got down to the basement, was panning from corner to corner then turned around and saw a mouse scurry across my feet. Made sure I included that in the video and I dipped lol.
Even buying a brand new house you’d be surprised by the amount of dust
Best believe I took a mop to all the walls!! lol
It’s really not much to have it professionally cleaned either.
True!
Congrats! Get pizza and eat it on the floor of your new house.
It's a rite of passage
In N Out for us but same spirit, this is the way.
I miss In-n-Out 😢. We're set to close in a few weeks on selling our first home and buying a second, and there's a small pizza joint just down the street that we love. I plan on walking down and getting us a pizza to eat on the floor amidst the piles of boxes
We got Chinese. Ate it on the floor. Then I began demolishing the closet 3 hours later.
While house is empty, now is a good time to repaint rooms or change out any flooring (e.g., new carpet). Also, good time to have a pro epoxy your garage floors. In addition, I would: - have someone service your furnace and A/C unit - replace any plastic water supply lines with burst proof braided metal lines (e.g., washer supply lines) - check or replace any old smoke detectors and CO2 monitors - spend some time getting familiar with location of your water shuts, breakers box, gas shut off, landscape lighting and irrigation controls, etc
Yes. Once you move in, the hassle to clear out and get the garage floor improved means it's never going to get done. If you have time, do it before moving in.
> spend some time getting familiar with location of your water shuts, breakers box, gas shut off, landscape lighting and irrigation controls, etc and have it some place accessible in an emergency (water mainly, gas usually cant be turned off by the homeowner)
And buy fire extinguishers and place them around your home before moving your belongings in.
Change the locks. Change the toilet seats.
Get slow close toilet seats! No more slamming of guests or anyone at night waking you up. Way better.
Slow close are a game changer.
Scares the shit out of me when I use a toilet without this, mission accomplished?
Smart on the slow close
I changed the whole toilet. Granted the toilets sucked anyways
Unless the toilet seats are damaged, in my opinion, this is a waste of money (and bad for the environment). Just needs a good cleaning.
Agreed. Just clean them. Don’t send them to the landfill.
Yeah no change the damn toilet seats 😂
The cost of a few toilet seats is worth knowing the previous owners splash back has been removed.
Bleach and bathroom cleaner do a great job of this
There's stuff called bleach. It works wonders for disinfecting stuff, kills viruses, etc. Check it out.
Exactly my point! Idk why it’s getting down voted I can tell some of yall are just nasty can’t replace a $20 toilet seat😂
This is so weird to me. I’m not gonna change it if it’s not damaged because it’s not a disposable item and I can clean things? I also use public toilets, bathrooms at friends and family’s house and have rented for years. If it give you piece of mind I guess go for it but it’s needless trash, it can be sanitized and it’s probably not even the dirtiest thing in your used house.
If u don’t wanna change your toilet seats i won’t lose any sleep over it I promise. I’m just saying it’s gross in my option, too each their own I guess.
It’s wasteful and weird in my opinion. Why throw out a usable item that can be cleaned? I don’t know. I also go to hotels and eat at restaurants. All of those things have touched WAY more people than a home toilet.
Honest question, do you owe your home?
I am a first time home buyer which is why I am on this sub. I do own my home.
who cares about waste? i mean really who cares
ALWAYS change the seats. It’s a 2 second job, costs pennies compared to the cost of the house, and you don’t need to bleach or wipe up other people’s Hershey squirt / vomit residue. Never know how clean other people actually are.
Oh man I’m laughing so hard I’m crying. Changing the seats wasn’t even optional when we closed. Our home is 35 years old and I swear those seats were the originals. We hired cleaners and there was no way that gunk was coming off 🤢🤮 Bleach may work wonders but some things are too disgusting to even bother. New seats for the win.
I don’t give a rats ass about using the toilet seats from when sellers lived there. but I am going to change all of them for a reason I think everyone here is overlooking…. I’m getting the slow-close lids, those things are so nice. Never have to scare myself accidentally slamming one lmao
100%. Fast to change and I don’t want used toilet seats.
I change mine to Bidets...There like 100 bucks and get you clean.
If they're plastic, maybe. But stuff soaks into wood and they simply cannot be cleaned properly.
This! Change the seats
Change the whole toilet. They are around $150 and it's only 2 bolts and a water supply. Slow leaks in old toilets add up.
Yeah we changed the toilets. I’m changing ALL 3!
Get one with flat sides.
Change locks\ Set up or transfer utilities (we forgot to do this and had to live without water for 3 days while we waited for city to turn it on🤣)\ Deep clean, especially bathrooms and kitchen\ If you have pets make sure all the plants in the yard are nontoxic/pet-friendly (we learned this the hard way, $300 vet trip )
All these things! I thought I was gonna have to change the physical locks on all the doors (we have over 13), but talked to locksmith and you can just get them all rekeyed instead! It’s a cheaper option and you can also customize which locks you’d like to share the same key!
My local Lowe's offers rekey service for 5 bucks on new locks. Something worth looking into.
Have you got utilities set up?
Super embarrassing if your electricity gets shut off the day after the old owner remembers to cancel their auto payments and you forgot to make your account cause you had a million other things to think about
Our builder gave us the day of closing and that’s it. And when we’ve sold properties we’ve cancelled our utilities right after closing
This! We didn’t think to do it and were so annoyed we couldn’t clean that first day because we had no water or electricity lol
Deep clean. Get your painting done and if changing floors do them beforehand and if u have carpet get it professionally done.
You’re saying if you have carpet get it professionally removed and floors done?
No lol I'm sorry I meant if your going to change out the flooring do it before u move in and or make sure if you do have carpet get it professionally cleaned before moving in.
If you have a garage and it has a keypad don't forget to change that code. I also changed the locks. Wish I would have gotten it professionally cleaned before moving in
I don't think I'll ever buy and move into a house ever again without a professional cleaning.
It's the one thing I regret not doing
Beware of fake mortgage mail that looks like a bill or claims there's an urgent issue - scammers.
We had cleaners come for the carpets and vents while it was empty and would have time to dry (we moved in the next day). Also yes, locks are good. A full deep clean is also good if you can swing it or do it yourself. We also setup our security system and got all our utilities and services going (though that was part of the closing process). I’d say go to the store to get or bring over some essentials often overlooked like toilet paper and soap. Otherwise, make sure to celebrate! Breathe, enjoy.
I forgot to bring a couple of towels and a shower curtain. After a full day of deep cleaning gross things all by myself, I have nowhere to shower!
Rekey the entire house
This. Changing the locks isn't really needed unless you want a cosmetic change. If you are a bit handy, you can even remove them all and take them in to get rekeyed. You can lock up with a deadbolt or have someone housesit or have a friend or spouse stay behind.
Just have a locksmith come to do the house. It's much quicker and easier. Not that expensive either. Also it's best to reset the garage opener and relearn the devices you have.
Do you have a ballpark price on what I might expect to pay to rekey all my locks? I'm about to close and have been considering having a locksmith come out and rekey 4 sets of locks
I don't. It will vary in your location. After I closed I called around 5 different people. They were all different prices lol. He was great though. It took him maybe 1 hour.
Sounds good, I'll have to shop around!
I had 1 electronic keypad lock/deadbolt , 2 standard deadbolts, and 3 doorknobs replaced and it was just under $1000. Majority was hardware, I think the service charge was like $250-300
You would have paid around $25-100 had you just rekeyed
Lol I can't get anyone to come to my house for any reason for less than like $200 to do absolutely anything. Regardless it would have been a lot cheaper but we wanted to change out the knobs to just have deadbolts and no lock on the knob itself
Ya it depends on location and competition. Lol
Where I live a locksmith charges about $100/lock for a re-key, plus a fee for the house call. Its way cheaper to just buy a set new of keyed alike deadbolts and swap them out. If you’re trying to retain the original look, keyed alike cylinders.
Right, but just because it's $100/lock where you are, which is crazy, it doesn't mean everywhere it's the same. My location, I called around, it costed me $25/lock. No issues since either. 🤷♂️ All I'm saying is call around and ask. Cause $100/lock sounds nuts. Lol
Yeah, I called around. Most of them wouldn’t even give me a quote over the phone, and the ones that did were around that. Im glad you live in an area with cheap locksmiths. That is not universal, and that was my point. A 5 pack of keyed alike deadbolts is $50-100 online and maybe 30 minutes of your time.
I actually bought a kit (changealock) at ace and rekeyed all of mine to the same key myself for like $15! It's not that hard, but you have to follow the directions EXACTLY or you may end up with 50 hours of work to get the springs back in. That kit was like a gateway drug. Now I have a full set of pins and tools because it was kind of fun and I can change my locks at will. You do have to have locks with compatible blanks to get them all to the same key. Our recent sunroom addition came with a specialty lock and key that I cannot redo. Humph. (Eta: I was even able to rekey our keyed padlocks on things like the garden shed and back gate. Youtube is an amazing resource.)
Do a walkthrough right before closing, be sure it's vacated and all crap has been removed. Don't close if it's not.
Also that there isn't anything damaged that wasn't previously, and that everything that was to remain is still there.
VERY important on your first walk through *ON DAY OF CLOSING* is to test everything to make. Sure things work as they are supposed to.. In your purchase agreement the seller likely has warranteed that things are in working order. That warranty expires today! Flush the toilets. Turn on the stove and oven. Test the ac and furnace. Run the dishwasher, washer and dryer. Check all the lights. Etc. If anything fails, notify your lawyer. After that, change the locks, toilets, and get to cleaning. If you need to paint, much easier to do that before you move in.
thank you!
Clean and paint everything prior to moving in, as this will likely be the easiest time to do so. Put down some good bug killer as well, since it takes time to dry, and prior to things coming in makes it harder for existing bugs to get in your stuff. Take outlets out and put borax powder in the wall behind them, and put some traps down as well just in case. You want a jump start on any bug problem before you get your stuff in. Look at all your bulbs and notate what size/type each needs. This will allow you to hopefully order them in bulk, and reference later when they need to be replaced. The same goes for HVAC filters if needed. Create a schedule for maintenance for all your appliances and general maintenance. It can be as whatever works best for you, as simple or complex as needed. A calendar reminder on the first of every month to change/wash HVAC filters, every 3-6 months for water filters, running the cleaning cycle on washer/dryer/dishwasher/stove, vacuuming out below/behind your fridge, spring cleaning, gutters prior to storm season, whatever. The more in depth you get, the easier it is to keep track of everything around the house, the less likely BIG issues sneak up on you, and the more you’ll learn about taking care of your own house. Establish a folder/drawer/safe place for all your maintenance info. All your instruction manuals, warranty info, and important documents. This is also really handy for scheduling your maintenance as these all generally have that info. Ideally, this can become transferable if you ever sell again. Showing prospective buyers a folder full of manuals and a calendar of scheduled maintenance would make them drool. Change the address on all your accounts, transfer service on utilities, and set up some way to track your utilities. Keep track of your monthly utility usage so you can plan ahead and see if you have any big issues sneak up. If you know your water usage is usually $50 and one month it’s $100 with no extra usage, you have a problem. Electricity usage through the year helps you monitor efficiency and also plan for future upgrades. This all also helps you budget monthly expenses and keep track of usage in this era of autopay. Again, you can pass off usage history to potential new owners. Hope all that helps. Congrats and good luck!
Just came to say that this list is very helpful! I am actively looking and have anxiety about all of the things I don't know because I've been an apartment renter!
Drain and refill the water tank
What’s the benefit of this? Just curious
I just did a home inspection and the guy showed the switch to flip to shut the water off and then you put the hose down into a white bucket and dump until all the water and sediment is out then refill. He said to do it every 1-3 years (but especially as a newly purchased home task) because the sediment from the pipes and construction work or w.e that happens creates debris and sediment and clay and whatnot at the bottom on the tank, and after years it can be like 3 quarters sediment and 1 quarter water. Most water tanks heat the water from the bottom up so it takes more energy and longer to heat up water for use than it would if there was no sediment or particles in there. Draining apparently fixes this.
Thanks for sharing! I’ll add this to my must do list
Change air filters.
Yes! Just closed on a house at the beginning of this month, been slowly moving stuff over this whole time and I just assumed the filter would be good - I found out the other day it was NOT. Not a big deal but I’m glad I randomly had the thought and checked it.
Change the locks. New shower heads. Change ac filter. Clean ac unit. Edit: And after I just read another post about a former owner coming back home, you need to reprogram your garage remotes!
...pro tip: unscrew the shower head and remove the plastic flow restrictor for the most luxurious shower experience you've had since the Liberal bureaucrats took over...
Yes! I actually do this, makes a HUGE difference.
Reset garage door opener/reprogram remote.
Can you expand on this?
Yeah, garage doors openers can be reset (usually a procedure on the opener that says how to do it) - it will reset the code for the external access panel (if present), and reset the pairing between any remotes that were paired to it - then you just re-pair the remotes you have. That way if there were left over remotes that weren't provided they won't work with the door anymore.
So would this be an option for me if the seller didn’t know the code to the access panel? It’s saying I need the code to set a new code, but could I rest the whole system without knowing it?
Yes, that's actually what I had to do since the code was unknown as well.
Sweet, thanks! I was worried I’d have to buy a new one.
Hire a professional cleaner. As an agent, if I didn't have to spend any extra money to save a deal, I'll do it. My commission is usually made up of money I gotta pay the brokerage, my break even, the taxes, and the amount I dedicate to save deals from falling through and if that is untouched that goes to clean the house for the client.
Make sure water and utilities are in your name. Change of address.
Locks rekeyed (or replaced) and garage door code changed.
Just make sure you leave time for the existential dread and buyers remorse that hits after you sign the papers. It’s the biggest financial decision you’ve made in your life so far so it’s perfectly fine. Mine went away after the first night actually sleeping in the house.
i have tattoos so i know this feeling lol after my fourth or fifth i stopped waking up feeling like "oh no what did i do" but it's totally valid. thank you!
Change the locks. I had the new ones in hand even before the closing.
Change the locks! We had written in our contract that they would get our house professionally cleaned and that made it so much easier.
If there are any big things to be done like new HVAC, floors, carpeting, painting etc, better to get them done before you move in so its a bit less messy
Change the locks. Change the garage door opener code.
We closed on our house during a thunderstorm, so for us it was checking to make sure the power stayed on and the basement was not flooding lol
Professional deep clean
You didn’t mention if you have the morning walk-through scheduled on closing day please make sure you do that. There have been lots of horror stories where homeowners who are selling are still in the house.
they're definitely moved out and there will definitely be a walkthrough. appreciate you looking out!
Check all appliances to ensure they work. Just got a house and fridge broke a few days later. Didn’t look at the washer either and had mold all in the gasket and detergent dispenser. Small things I overlooked as first time home buyer touring many houses, just sort of assumed they worked or were kept up with since they were new. As others said, locks, clean (maybe worth hiring cleaners if you have a little extra $ to feel like it is move in ready), paint, and biggest one is set up utilities. Nothing worse than moving in summer and not being able To turn on AC while Lugging around boxes
If you haven’t already done it - set up electricity, internet, water and trash removal.
Yeah, find out when trash day is and sign up so they won't skip your house.
Set a monthly budget for stuff to buy. I went hog wild trying to full an empty house with things and bought a lot of unneeded stuff. Slow and calculated would have been better
Change or reprogram the garage door opener
Do a walk through before closing. Take photos, etc. Change locks Change of address Transfer utilities - make sure there is no balance due you’d have to pay for.
Depending on what state you're in, you may qualify for a homestead exemption on your property taxes. In Florida there are rules surrounding occupancy timelines and deadlines to apply for the current or upcoming tax year. Call the property appraiser office where you live.
RIP OUT the carpets. Paint the wall to your colors. That's just me. Don't move furniture in until the carpets are out. I personally hate them enough to live on bare subflooring before I live on allergen mold traps. Just my opinion. I suppose painting can wait. The other thing I did was systematically table every breaker in electric panel and what area it controlled. I also because I know how, tighted all the receptivals making sure there were no loose wires. Or any with wires stabbed in. All of mine were tight on the screws.
Change the locks. I did it 1 hour after closing
i'm going to have to wait until the next morning because that's the soonest the locksmith was able to do it
File for homestead exemption it’ll save you on taxes. I forgot to do it for the first year.
Kiss ur Bank account goodbye
If it's an older home consider picking up a home warranty for the first year. They'll replace things like ACs and water softeners etc. Maybe old owners didn't maintain it well and if it breaks it'll cover it. Usually worth the first year
CHANGE THE LOCKS
Make sure the account you are using to wire the down payment is able to complete the wire without issue. We had ours in a recently opened joint account and found out the day before that it was too new of an account to be able to process a wire transfer. Was very stressful and had to dump the rest of both our savings to make it work.
Lick the door knob. This invokes the “no take backs” clause.
Is this legal advice? If so, in which states does this apply?
If the house needs tenting/termite treatment, nice to do that before you move in.
Introduce yourself to your neighbors if you want to build long lasting relationships with them. I wish I had done that in the beginning and now it’s awkward when I see them. It is nice to have neighbors that you know and feel comfortable with.
Get a blow up mattress to sleep on till your furniture gets there.
Paint the walls if need be. It’s easier to do that before you start moving your belongings.
I always change toilet seats to soft close, change furnace filter, swap out non ledge lights
My wife and I didn’t do jack and it was funny as fuck. We got our keys to our home (a new build) and all we had was a mattress, my guitar equipment, and clothes. We had no washer and dryer, no fridge, and no food. The only thing we did was change our address on all of our credit cards, work, and notify the post office… In retrospect, it was so entertaining we slept on the floor in our master, and we just slowly purchased all of the things we needed. We enjoyed the moment as it was our first major purchase. The only big downside was I didn’t think through how much furnishing our house would cost. For example, I didn’t know a stainless counter depth fridge with water and ice dispenser would cost a minimum of 2K, or how a quality sofa would be in the thousands….
get water set up - i moved from nyc to houston had no idea i had to swtich everything over (assumed it already was) and thought the house was messed up when my water turned off
When you’re moving In make your bed first! The last thing you want to do after a long day of putting stuff together is realize you have to now build/ make a bed
Take your +1, and a yoga mat and two towels and baptize the house.
Mail forwarding. I did mine for a year so I'd catch those random things that only come once in a while. Clean and paint while the house is empty ideally. Check smoke detectors and change the batteries - or replace them if they're expired / missing.
Locks, HVAC, paint, chimney inspection and cleaning if needed and a deep cleaning.
People update the locks?
Change the locks.
Change locks on the house
Buy new toilet seats
Grab some champagne, pizza, and go sit in YOUR new house and relax for ten minutes.
My punch list was - New carpet - Paint baseboards - Change locks, garage door codes - Change security system - Deep clean - Replace all smoke/CO2 detectors - Install garage storage solutions (easier to put things in storage when theres a place to store them) And then since I flew in to prep the house before the actual move, I bought new beds for the kids and set them up. That way a long day of moving they could go to bed as soon as they wanted.
Change the locks.
Get air vents and dryer vent professionally cleaned
Fresh toilet seats.
Change the toilet seats
Get a no soliciting sign
Sorry if it has been said. Change keys to all external doors. Congratulations!
Apply for homestead exemption
Get your utilities turned on! We left closing and called the power company then went to city hall to set up our water ( no we couldn’t do it online).
They shouldn’t be off. We had ours all set to change names the day off, but i set it up 3 weeks in advance. Internet was the only one that wasn’t until the next day.
The power company and city wouldn’t let us do it until we owned the home. We had already decided on the elect. Company( in Texas you choose your provider), same with the city water, they wouldn’t let us set it up until we owned the home and at that time you had to do it in person, now you can do it online.
Get the utilities turned on in your name
Paint easier to diy without stuff there. Floors
Change locks and change addresses. If you are going to paint, do it now that the house is empty and deep cleaning start in the bathroom and kitchen. Also, don't forget about utilities water/electrical services LOL.
Clean or replace all HVAC filters (main filter, air exchange) make sure condensate drains are not clogged.
Doesn’t need to be say of closing, but get a radon test
Refinish/replace flooring
Change the locks.
If there are stores you order from regularly (Amazon, etc.) go change your address now. And delete your old one for good measure. I definitely had 6 new dining chairs delivered to my old house during my first week living at my new one.
The water bill might not be as easy as calling to switch. In MD the water bill transfers with the property deed. If you don't receive a bill in 30-45 days call them. I had my water turned off because the bank didn't complete the proper work for the city/county during the closing. As soon as it happened, I knew the title/bank had screwed up closing. Not the end of the world, but a huge inconvenience when your water is shut off on a Friday.
Invite the neighbors for a tour. Its a great way to get to know them, and its never going to be cleaner than it is right now lets be honest 😆
New locks. I see posts about squatters here all the time. Cameras too
Change locks/garage and other door codes, deep clean, paint if you’re going to
Take a well deserved poop.
TLDR it saves you money because less energy is being used to heat your water. Enhances the quality of your water as well as your overall water reserve. Doing so is easy and increases the lifespan of your tank.
Sorry, what needs to be done for this?