Blog

Cleaning and painting

A lot of buyers aren’t organized enough to clean and paint before they move in, but it makes everything easier if you can swing it!

Try to get at least a thorough cleaning done before you move all your stuff in, and if you can, get all your painting done. It’s much easier to paint an empty room than a room packed with furniture.

Your new home might not have any window treatments; if not, they should be at the top of your list of things to purchase (you don’t want to give your new neighbors a bad first impression, after all).

Check to see if the house has horizontal and vertical blinds, and make sure you like the style. If not, make a list of all the windows that need treatments and the measurements of those windows so you have it handy at the hardware store or when you’re ordering online.

Get to know your new home

In case of emergency, you definitely need to know where everything is in your new home!

First, the main water shut-off valve — sometimes this is in the garage. Sometimes it’s in the basement or crawl space. Make sure you know how to shut off your water in case a faucet breaks or a sink starts leaking.

Next, find the circuit box and make sure your fuses or switches are well-labeled. Nothing is more frustrating than blowing a fuse and having to check each one individually because nothing is labeled. And you might be surprised — sometimes fuses from different parts of the house are tied together on one switch, so do your homework early and don’t be left scratching your head during an outage.

Find the gas shut-off valve, if applicable. During a natural disaster, the first directive is often to shut off the gas, so it’s super important to know where the gas shutoff valve is. If at some point you smell gas in the house and need to shut it off, you don’t want to have to go searching for the valve while your house fills with gas.

If you have a sump pump, make sure to test it. Sump pumps are amazing if they’re used correctly, but if not, they can lead to thousands of dollars worth of damage. They are located in the basement or crawl space of a home, and they ensure that if there is standing water in your home, it is pumped out into your storm sewer or a containment pond. The Roto Rooter website has some great step-by-step videos for checking your sump pump and maintaining it properly.

In the United States, more than 20% of homes rely on a septic system for treating wastewater. If you fall into this category, you’ll need to perform regular maintenance on your septic tank to make sure you don’t end up with a malfunction.

It’s a good idea to hire a professional to inspect your septic system, if you didn’t do so during closing of your loan. Septic tanks need to be pumped every three to five years, so make sure you have all the details on when maintenance was last performed on your system. There are different types of septic systems and several variables that can affect how they function, so hiring a professional in this case is probably your best bet.