Moving into a new home is an exciting journey, but it can also be a bit overwhelming. It’s important to make sure you don’t let your excitement get the better of you or to let your stressing over the move cause you to become careless. It seems like there are always a million things to do before moving into a new house, and that doesn’t even include packing up your old one.
The last thing you want is to finalize buying a new home, pack everything into a moving van, arrive at your new home, move all of your belongings in, and only then discover there’s something wrong with the house that you could have fixed beforehand.
To avoid last-minute headaches, here are some important things you need to do before you move into a new home.
Do a thorough walkthrough and inspection.
The easiest time to do a complete, thorough walkthrough of a house is when it’s empty, so go ahead and take a trip to the new house before you move in to check everything out in person. Naturally, you’ll hope to see that the previous homeowners did a great job keeping everything in shape, but if there’s something that needs addressing, now’s the time. Generally, when putting a house up for sale, the owners are required to get home inspections of important systems done, but it never hurts to do your own inspection.
If you aren’t comfortable inspecting the plumbing and finer details yourself, then you’ll need to hire your own home inspector who you trust to do a good job. If you find that the house isn’t up to the quality stipulated in the house contract, you’ll need to contact your realtor and discuss options. Do this step before purchasing the house, if possible, so you won’t get stuck with responsibilities you can’t handle.
Set any necessary renovation or remodel in motion.
If you like the house but want to give it a kitchen or bathroom remodel, go ahead and get those plans going with trustworthy specialists like CMK Construction, rather than a general contractor. CMK offers total bathtub and shower replacement, custom floor tiles, bathroom accessibility upgrades, and much more.
If the kitchen leaves something to be desired, let CMK customize your kitchen with new countertops, walls, backsplashes, plumbing, and stainless steel appliances. CMK has served thousands of homeowners in the state of Florida and uses only the highest-quality materials from top brands.
Once your new kitchen is complete, top it off with a portable ice maker that can keep the housewarming party going. An ice maker with a large reservoir can produce a whole bag of ice with small cubes that fit any cocktail or other beverage. Don’t be afraid to invite the neighbors for a little R&R.
Make sure you’re set up with your new ISP.
Any time you move house, you’re going to need to set up a new TV and internet service. This might not be too difficult for a local move where you’ll stick with the same ISP, but if you’re moving to a new area, make sure you call well in advance to ensure you aren’t moving into a dead zone when you arrive.
You should be able to compare providers online based on your new address, and it’s a good idea to schedule your installation at least a couple of weeks in advance to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Update your address.
This is a basic one, but it’s easy to forget how important it is when everything else is going on. Moving to a new home updates your life in more ways than one, and you’re going to need to make sure everyone knows your new address. This doesn’t just include the post office and the people you know personally—every account that you have for every service you use will need to be updated with your new address. Go ahead and take care of all of it now to avoid a bunch of small annoyances cropping up later down the line.