The Closing of Your New Home is Actually Just the Beginning
The closing stage of a property sale is more than just the beginning of a new chapter in your life. It is also the beginning of a very important checklist that you should tend to as soon as possible, ideally starting with day one. In this short article we are going to discuss some of the important details that accompany newly acquired property.
One of the first things on the list for anyone who has just taken ownership of new property is to follow through with the utility companies to confirm that the installation or reconnection of services are still scheduled for the soonest possible time. Obviously, these should be scheduled at least a week ahead of the expected date of the closing. But the day of closing or the very next day you should check with each scheduled service to confirm that things will still happen on time.
Next on the list of things to get after is changing all of the keys and locks on the property for brand new ones. Even with the best of intentions the previous owners may have forgotten just one person who had a copy of the keys — or perhaps they never bothered to change the locks back whenever they first took ownership of the property. Whatever the case, in the name of safety and security, one of your top priorities should be changing out locks. If this is not something that you are capable of then you should talk to a locksmith or other contractor and arrange for an appointment on the day that you expect to receive the keys.
On the same token as the locks, if you plan on utilizing an already present security system, or having one installed, then you should schedule an appointment to have that taken care of the day you expect to get the keys, or on the next day, so that safety and security are in place as soon as possible.
Up next, we should take a quick stroll around the outside of any structures or buildings on the property. Some things to note are making sure that any outdoor lighting is working and making sure that any electrical outlets are either protected from the weather or disabled. Another thing to be on the lookout for is any outdoor water spigots so that you can make sure they are closed tightly and not leaking. If it is late in the Fall season, or if Winter is already upon you, you will want to drain and disable these spigots from inside, as well, to avoid any freezing damage to the pipes.
While you are outside, go ahead and check to see if the doorbell still works (if not, just make a note, as this can be taken care of whenever you like, later on.) Also, check out your mailbox and make sure it is serviceable or many Postal Carriers will not deliver your mail until it is. Along that line of inspection, check to make sure your street address is clear and properly displayed on the front of your house, as well as on the mailbox if it is curbside.
Well, we are almost there, but not quite done, yet. We need to go inside any buildings and check out smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. This is a great time to replace any batteries that are already in place with ones, even if the old ones seem to look or work great. Just replace all of the batteries with new ones for that extra piece of mind. If there are no detectors where there should be, then we need to put those in place as soon as absolutely possible. Again, we just do not want to wait on safety or security issues.
Also, now that we are indoors, but probably have not had a chance to clutter the place up, yet, we should take care of a few more things while they are easier to tend to. This would be a great time to walk around the house with a notepad and to write down the locations of any emergency water shut-off valves around the house, the location of any circuit breaker boxes, and the location of any access panels in closets, walls, ceilings, under sinks, etc. You may not feel comfortable with accessing them, but you could still save someone else a great deal of time if you already know where these access points are located.
Finally, the last thing you may want to do with a first day on your new property is to take measurements of any space that you may need to know about in the future. Doorways, windows, closets, ceiling heights, or whatever you can imagine needing to know about later on. It is just much easier to measure an empty building than it is after it begins filling up.
The first day that you have the keys to a property are a big deal, but there will be more big deals still happening over the next few weeks, so stay sharp and stay diligent about dealing with things as they arise. For example, if you were smart enough to purchase title insurance, it won’t actually go into effect until the first day that you actually own the property, which means the ensuing paperwork for that policy will not arrive in the mail for another week or two. The same is true for some other documents, as well, so you will want to be diligently checking the mail every day until you have all of the important documents that you are expecting. A safe place to store them would be a pretty good idea, too. But that part is up to you.
Ultimately, the most important thing you can do just after you get the keys is to take a second and just smile really big. Enjoy the moment and relish the feeling of a great accomplishment and a huge investment. Then get over the moment and go deal with all of the safety and security issues as soon as possible. Tending to those things will allow you to enjoy your new investment safely and soundly for a long time to come. I’ll be back with a new topic soon. Until then, take care, everyone!
