It’s a wonderful feeling when the real estate agent drops the keys of your dream home – into your hands.
You know the ink is dry on the contract, the weeks or even months of searching are over, and you can begin a fresh chapter in your life.
As you step inside, you’re swept up in the feeling of potential for what can be achieved. An avalanche of packing boxes is about to descend on you – and life rarely gets more exciting.
But before this beautiful chaos arrives, it’s a great idea to familiarize yourself with some critical aspects of the building.
As an experienced agent, I’ve lost count of the times clients have rung me a few days after they’ve moved in to ask if I know where to locate the electrical panel or water mains.
So, I’ve made a quick list of the features in your home that you should check out plus a couple of common sense ideas, too. I hope you find them useful and enhance the wonderfully chaotic enjoyment of moving into your new home.
- Locate manuals – You should whether the previous owners have put aside the manuals for the furnace, air-conditioning unit and kitchen appliances. Find missing ones online and download.
- Make a folder – You should keep all the manuals, invoices and receipts for your equipment in a folder. This will save you hours of fruitless searching when you need to work out how to reset the oven clock (among other things)!
- Find the shut-off valve – This will be located near your water meter. It might be in the front yard near the fence line, or attached to an exterior wall. A third possibility is an underground box with a lid over the top. If there’s a concern about freezing winter conditions, the valve will be inside, usually in the basement. When you find it, please don’t touch it unless there’s a problem.
- Locate the electrical panel – This will be in a grey metal box, either hung in the utility room or garage. Sometimes, it will be attached to the exterior of the house. Check if each fuse is labeled to indicate which area of the house it supplies. If no issues were raised in your inspection report, it’s still a good idea to call in an electrician to check you have a modern surge board.
- Crawl and climb – Take a torch and get underneath the house. Make a note of any wires and the run of the plumbing. Make sure everything is dry and airflow vents are not blocked. You should approach the attic with the same purpose. When you’re there, extinguish the torch to reveal daylight seeping through any gaps in the roofing. Check the condition of the insulation too.
- Check alarms – It’s never a bad idea to replace the batteries, especially in the smoke alarm. Then you know when they are likely to expire and won’t spend days wondering where the chirruping is coming from.
- Furnace filter alert – Replace the filter as soon as possible to reduce any chance of fire. Book it in for a service.
- Run the AC – Turn on the air-conditioning unit and check it’s running correctly. If you have a ducted system, see if each room is getting the benefit of the cooling system. Clean the AC filter, and get it serviced once you’re settled.
- Run the sump pump – If your home suffers rising water levels in wet conditions, then you’ll likely have a sump pump. Check that it works and get it serviced. No one wants to be knee-deep in water in the basement after a storm. As a rule, it’s worth checking this pump twice a year.
- Check the locks – Do you have keys for all the locks? Your agent should have covered this off, but there’s no harm in double-checking. I’d recommend changing the locks, especially for the entry doors. Who knows who’s been given a key by a previous owner – a babysitter, dog-walker, cleaner? Make this a priority on your to-do list.