Moving into your first home is always sure to be a momentous experience. Years if not decades of saving have brought you to this, one of life’s most monolithic milestones. Despite all the excitement you’ll be feeling in the lead-up to your highly anticipated moving day, it’s also perfectly natural to feel totally in over your head. If you’re a first-time homeowner who’s feeling a bit apprehensive about moving into your new home, then this 7-step guide should help smooth out all the potential pitfalls that may be plaguing you. Read on to equip yourself with a little more confidence and peace of mind during your big move.  

Step 1 – Secure home insurance  

Although expenses are likely the last thing you’ll want to think about following securing yourself a home loan, finalising your home and contents insurance prior to moving can help take a lot of the stress out of your moving day, especially if your policy includes transit insurance that covers any damage caused by removalists.   Ideally, you’ll want your new home and contents insurance policy to kick in on the day you receive your keys to your new property. This means that your last policy for your old address should also preferably end on the last day you’ll have the keys to that property. Similarly, if you’re moving from a rental property into your first home, you’ll want to ensure that your renter’s insurance ends on the final day of your lease agreement.

Step 2 – Do a full walkthrough of the property

The first thing you’ll want to do upon getting your keys is driving straight to your new house. Even though this may feel impulsive, it’s actually highly recommended, as there’s no better time to perform a thorough walkthrough of your new property than whilst it’s unfurnished.   Similar to conducting a full walkthrough of a rental property, the first walkthrough of your new home will help you easily identify any potential problems, concerns, or oversights that you’d like to see addressed. Specifically for first-time homeowners, the walkthrough is your opportunity to identify any potential breaches of your sales contract.   It’s common for established properties to be sold with a list of repair requests from the buyer. If these repairs haven’t been adequately addressed by the previous owners prior to their move-out date, you have the right to place a formal inquiry with your realtor and voice that there has been a breach of your sales contract.

Step 3 – Prioritise urgent repairs

The walkthrough of your property is also the perfect time to identify any problem areas in and around your property that will need to be promptly addressed, these being issues like cracks in vents, broken outlets or switches, and other areas of the home that are in need of repairs. As you can imagine, rectifying these issues is a lot easier to do while your new home is still unfurnished, as you won’t have to worry about navigating around rooms or even shifting furniture around in order to better access problem areas.   Even unkempt lawns or poor landscaping can be prioritised at this point and prior to furnishing your new home. After all, isn’t it preferable to have your property looking picture perfect in time for furnishing and adding final decor touches?

Step 4 – Set up your utilities 

Of course, setting up your water, gas, electricity, phone line, and your internet connection are all quintessential preparation for moving home. In fact, one of the most frustrating occurrences that can happen to any new homeowner is being ready to move in on Day 1 at the new house only to find that your electricity may still be disconnected or your broadband connection appointment has been pushed back.   You can ensure that your utilities are set up promptly by communicating openly with all your utility providers and setting dates for all service installation and connections to coincide with either the first day in your new home, or preferably even a day or so before your official move in. Allocating time to organise your utility set-up schedule a few weeks in advance, may even provide you with the opportunity to shop around and look at other potential providers. You may be able to accrue some serious savings by going with a competitor over settling with your existing providers.

Step 5 – Change your address 

You should ideally go about changing your address as soon as your sales contracts have been finalised. This particular step of the moving process is naturally best done sooner rather than later in order to avoid important mail being sent to your old address and piling up in the new tenant’s mailbox.   A good method for helping you get through this particular step is to write out a list of all the agencies or organisations that you’ll need to alert regarding your change of address. Change your address with your state government’s transportation body in order to secure change of address stickers for your driver’s licence as well as ensure garage information for your registered vehicles is kept up-to-date.   Alongside alerting all relevant government bodies, you should also update your contact information on any mailing lists or subscription services you may be paying for. You don’t want any of your magazines or packages heading in the post to your old address!

Step 6 – Consider home security 

If you’ve ever considered changing the locks when moving into a new home, it’s honestly not that bad of an idea. If you’re purchasing an existing property over a brand new build, then changing the locks upon moving in can help reduce the risk of strangers being able to access your home. Changing the locks becomes an even more logical security measure to take if your home was ever on the rental market. As renters are able to cut their own keys, there’s really no guessing as to how many copies of your house key may be out there.   Changing your locks is only one half of the equation, however. New homeowners are also encouraged to install home security systems and alarms around their new property to protect their assets and reduce the risk of falling victim to a break-in. With wireless security technologies becoming increasingly available, investing in some wireless security cameras or even a video doorbell can also help provide your new home with a bit of extra security.   You may have also found windows with faults or poorly fitted locks or clasps, amongst other potential security concerns that could be easily rectified with a little updating. Taking the time to update these fixtures prior to moving in can help keep your home and family safe and sound in your new home for years to come.

Step 7 – Set up your homeowner documents folder

It goes without saying that there is a lot to keep track of when you own a home. The realities of home ownership is certainly a fair step up from the casual work and maintenance that accompanies being a renter. And just as cars or boats should ideally be accompanied by a full servicing history, so too should all records of your home’s repairs and maintenance be kept in a universal source. That’s why more and more first-time homeowners are getting to work on preparing their ‘homeowner’s journal’ or documents folder prior to their big move.   A homeowner’s journal should be made up of a large binder with separate files or storage for all the different responsibilities of home ownership. This includes your sales contract, Section 32 statement, building inspection report, council rates payments, insurance invoices and claims paperwork, utility bills over the last four quarters (and perhaps also separate archives of bills from past financial years), and all invoices from tradesmen like electricians or plumbers in order to keep track of home repairs and maintenance.    ~   Once you’ve completed these 7 steps, you’ll find that there won’t be anything left to do but prepare for the moving day itself. Secure your removalists, pack all your boxes, and get to work on developing a strategy for unpacking and getting settled in your new home.