You’ve bought your first house. The paperwork is all signed. You have the house keys in your hand. Now, all you have to do is book a moving van and bring all of your belongings into your property. Right?
Not exactly. There are a number of steps that you should take before you pack up everything you own and shove it into a moving van. Read ahead to see what you should do before you move in.
1. Assess Your Furniture
Your furniture will present the biggest challenges on moving day. Some of the pieces are bulky, heavy and awkward to carry. They can’t fit through most doorframes and need a lot of careful maneuvering to squeeze through spaces without causing any damage. They’re not easy to disassemble and put back together again. Some things just aren’t mover-friendly.
Say you have a dining room set with a very heavy table. You know that it might be difficult to bring into your brand-new space without scraping against every doorframe it goes through.
In that case, you might want to consider a replacement that’s easier to transport, assemble, disassemble and shift around as you settle into your new home. Look at this multi-functional dining table from Transformer Table that allows you to adjust the size of your table with different panels and arrangements. This flexible design will make it easy to handle tight doorways, steep stairways and other challenges that you might meet on moving day.
You can take the same approach with other bulky furniture pieces. Do you have a very large sofa that you’re unsure you can bring over? Get a convertible couch that you can quickly assemble in your new living room without breaking a sweat. Are you worried about lugging a mattress, box spring and hefty bedframe into the moving van? Then, consider getting a platform bed frame. Platform beds break down into easy-to-transport panels and require no box spring — that means a lot less effort on your part.
2. Go Beyond the Home Inspection
Before signing the mortgage for this property, you probably looked through a home inspection. A home inspection informs you of the condition of basic elements of the house, like the roof, the plumbing and the electrical system. The inspection lists any problem areas that you should be aware of and what repairs you should expect to make in the near future.
It’s possible that your home inspector missed something or that a problem developed after their visit. So, before you move in, you should explore the house and inspect all of the features that you can. Flip the light switches. Turn on the sink taps. Run appliances that the previous owners left behind. You’ll want to be completely sure that everything is in working order. You don’t want to be caught by surprise after you’ve already settled into the house.
You should also look into house issues that the home inspection doesn’t cover, like asbestos and lead paint. You can hire professionals to test for these hazardous substances in your home. This is especially important when you’ve purchased an older build — they’re more likely to contain these materials than newer builds.
3. Make Home Improvements
Are you planning on making any home improvements? Do you want to give the bedrooms a fresh coat of paint, re-tile the kitchen backsplash or revamp the shower in the upstairs bathroom? The best time to tackle these projects is before moving in.
Since the house is empty, you won’t have to worry about these projects getting in the way of your day-to-day activities. You won’t risk ruining any of your furniture or personal belongings. Small children and pets won’t be present, so you don’t have to section off areas that could be dangerous. Take advantage of this convenient time.
4. Clear the Air
You should clear the air before you move in. Replace the filter in your HVAC unit. You should make a habit of replacing it every three months from this point forward. If you’ve conducted any home improvements, you should increase those replacements to once per month. Home improvements can release dust, debris or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. These will taint your new home’s indoor air quality.
If you’ve made extensive home improvements, or the house seems really dusty, you should hire a professional air duct cleaning service to tackle your air vents, including your dryer vent. Dust and lint build-up in your dryer vent can be a fire hazard.
5. Deep Clean Everything
Once you’ve finished home improvements and duct cleaning, you’ll want to do a thorough clean of the house. Again, the house will be completely empty — this is the perfect opportunity to wash every corner of it. There won’t be furniture or home décor getting in your way. The whole process will be much faster and easier to do before you have to lug all of your belongings inside.
If you don’t have the time or energy to deep clean every floor, you could hire a professional cleaning service to tackle some of the work for you.
6. Change the Locks
You just got the keys to this new house, but you shouldn’t use them for very long. A standard safety practice for new homeowners is to change the locks as soon as possible. You never know who has a copy of your housekey, and you don’t want to risk leaving your property vulnerable to intruders.
Do not put copies of your new keys in places that intruders can easily access them. Do not put them under flowerpots, under welcome mats, in the mailbox, etc. If you’re worried about getting locked out of the house without your key, you should keep a copy in a lockbox with a secure passcode.
Take all of these steps before you grab your moving boxes and start packing. You’ll be thankful that you crossed them off your to-do list come moving day.
