Move in Tips for Austin TX Home Buyers

Moving into a new home is an exciting time! It may be the anticipation of enjoying a new space, adding more room for a growing family or starting a new job in a new area. Whatever your reason, the excitement shouldn’t be dampened by handling unforeseen issues that come up while getting established. To keep on top of the move-in process, we’ve come up with some helpful suggestions to smooth the transition into a new home.

Gathered from years of experience in the real estate industry, these suggestions will enable you to focus on getting your life set up instead of getting small fixes done. Although a home inspection during the closing process should reveal anything that needs immediate attention before purchasing your home, these common sense items aren’t on a home inspector’s radar. We’ve also included a referral to a service provider who can help you if you need it.

New Home Action List

1. Change the locks.

It’s always a good idea to be the key-master of your castle. Since you don’t know who the previous homeowners may have given keys to, you should switch out the locks with new ones that put you in charge of managing key distribution. You can do it yourself, or call a locksmith to replace them for a pretty modest charge.

Austin Contracting Services

2. Wipe out cabinets.

Typically, a home will be professionally cleaned before you move in. Wiping down the inside of the cabinets, however, doesn’t always make the cleaning list. You can use a damp cloth or other simple cleaner to get the job done yourself. If there’s contact paper on the inside of the cabinets, you might want to replace that too.    

The Maids Cleaning and Maid Services

3. Evict any unwanted pests.

In Texas, this usually ends up being spiders and may extend to ants, roaches, scorpions or mice. They may be pretty easy to find, but take a good look around for droppings. If you see any, contact a local exterminator or purchase pest control at your local home improvement store. There are multiple options for rodents that don’t always require killing them.

Pro-Tech Exterminating Services

4. Familiarize yourself with the breaker box, main water valve, water heater and fire extinguishers (if any).

You’ll want to be familiar with these before an emergency happens. Know where your breaker box is and which switches correspond with different parts of the house. Be sure to understand how to turn off the water in case of an imminent tornado or hurricane. As far as a fire extinguisher, be sure to understand how to use it and make sure the certification is up-to-date. If your home doesn’t have fire extinguishers, you may want to pick some up to stay prepared.

5. Know where the local emergency services are and have easy access to the contact information.

Understanding where your local hospitals, urgent care clinics, police stations and firehouses are is important if an emergency comes up. Putting the contact information for the services near a home phone or saved into your contacts will keep you from having to obtain it during an emergency. Being prepared for an emergency is the best way to avoid one.

Tell Us More

What are your recommended move-in actions? We’d love to hear your suggestions and tips that help you feel more grounded in your new home.

Please take a minute to let us know what you think in the comments below. We’d love to have your input!