10 Ways to Make Sure Your New Home is Move-In Ready

No one can deny how exciting it can be to purchase and move into a new home. Once you’ve closed, you understandably might feel very anxious to get out of your old space and get to your new one already, but it’s important to knock some stuff out first before you do. 

Even if your new home checks every box you could possibly have when looking for the ideal home, odds are there are a couple of improvements or just some things to update that are much simpler done before all of your furniture and inhabitants are moved in, rather than afterward. 

So what could we possibly be referring to? Read further for 10 ways to make sure your new home is move-in ready and customized to you. 

• Painting: One of the easiest ways to customize your house and give it a whole new feel before you move in is to paint! This is also an especially easy project if you don’t have anything moved in yet (and don’t have to worry about moving or covering furniture, or avoiding certain rooms while the paint dries). If you don’t like your wall colors, or just want to give your home a fun new vibe, definitely make sure to paint prior to moving in.
• Flooring: If the flooring isn’t to your liking in certain parts of your home, or in the whole place, make sure to switch that out with new flooring that’s more to your liking while you don’t have to worry about avoiding the project’s room or moving furniture to accommodate the project.
• Ceilings: This is a big one if you’re moving into an older house, and especially one that might still have popcorn ceilings. Get rid of that before and have your ceilings taken care of (if they need it!) before you have to cover furniture and worry about living in a home where the ceilings are being resurfaced!
• Fencing: If you have children or pets that are used to having free range in the backyard, make sure to have your new house’s fencing installed before everyone comes over if the fencing is not already up. This can be a bigger factor for safety, so better safe than sorry.
• Correcting Leaks: If you or your house inspector noticed any leaks in the home’s infrastructure or walls, make sure to have that corrected or fixed as soon as possible. Even the tiniest leaks can become big problems later on, so nip that issue in the bud before you move in.
• Changing Filters: This is a tiny project with a big payoff. Change out any filters or vents in your heating or cooling systems or really anywhere that has a removable filter. This makes a huge difference in both air quality and your systems’ efficiency.
• Setting Up Organizational Areas: A lot of people leave this for when they move in, but it slows everything down and can even cause more mess than the state your home might already be in on a moving day. Organize closets, make organizational spaces, and figure out what you want to go where before your stuff is actually involved.
• Change Locks: This is one that can almost go completely overlooked by a lot of people. There’s no need for your home’s old owners, or whoever they entrusted with their spares to still have the keys to your home (no matter how nice they are!). Even if everyone turned in their keys, it’s still just nice to have a new sense of security.
• Change Alarms: Another super simple one – go around your home and either change the batteries in all of your fire and carbon monoxide alarms or completely replace alarms that look old or like they’ve maybe seen better days.
• Childproofing: If you have children or pets, it’s super important to make sure your new home is childproofed before you bring everyone over officially. This will save you a lot of headaches, and can even save a trip to the doctor.

There’s no doubt about how exciting it is to be moving into your own home soon! It’s an exciting time and process for sure, but make sure you take your time with making updates and correcting any issues the house might have prior to moving in. It can be really annoying to just move into a home, only to get started on a project or then start updating small things. 

Take care of any projects, especially ones that would otherwise involve moving furniture or sectioning off rooms before those items are in, and can cause a hassle. This will make sure that not only your moving day goes smoothly, but your first experiences in your home too!