3 Tips for Moving Into Your First Home

Buying a home is a dream come true for most young adults. Whether you buy a condo in the heart of an urban city center or a fixed-upper in farmhouse country, stepping over the threshold of your new home for the first time is an experience like no other.

Enclosed auto transport has long been recommended for cross-country moves, but homeowners moving house locally find it useful, too. For your own peace of mind, do what you have to do to stay calm and relaxed the day of the big move. It’s bound to be a stressful day. That said, it’s understandable that you might want to relish in the freedom and independence of your brand new home, even if you have some hearty renovation projects waiting ahead.

If you want to live out your television-commercial fantasy of eating takeout by candlelight in the bare living room surrounded by boxes, we won’t stop you. However, there are a few important practical details to home ownership that the glossy realtor pamphlets don’t prepare you for. Here are three useful tips that most new homeowners wish they had known before they moved in.

Test the outlets

There’s nothing more infuriating than a blown fuse, and if you’ve barely finished unpacking your toiletries, a house plunged into darkness is definitely not a great way to start out on the right foot. Ensure that outlets around the house work properly before anything else. Take a quick walk around the space and test the outlets in all rooms.

Most important are the bathroom outlets, not just because master baths and powder rooms should typically be well-lit to prevent safety hazards, but also because most of the outlets are powered through a single GFCI.

If you’re not sure what that is, it’s the single red button in the very center of most outlets. If your house doesn’t have a basement, it’s almost guaranteed that the GFCI is located in one of the bathrooms. In the case of an emergency outage, push the GFCI to get everything up and running again.

Of course, if an appliance itself stops working, and a reboot of the GFCI does nothing to solve the problem, you should call the professionals. Technicians specializing in refrigerator repair in Portland see many homeowners whose appliances suddenly and unexpectedly stop working. Talk about a crisis!

Don’t make drastic changes

Even if you’re a natural-born Chip or Joanna, it’s advisable to take some serious consideration before plunging into a crazy DIY project. For one, reno projects typically cost more than you account for, and most new homeowners start off quite frugally due to the down payment they just handed over for the house itself.

Making a massive change without consulting city planners first can actually land you into considerable legal trouble. If you start cutting down trees, putting up fences, and planting hedgerows, you could wind up either annoying your new neighbors or instigating a lawsuit, depending on where your property lines convene. Do your research before you embark on any ambitious landscaping projects.

Find storage space

If you’ve finally got your own place to move about in, and more space than you’ve ever had to your name, you’re going to want to take advantage of it. However, unless you have a suitable storage system set in place, you could easily find yourself falling quickly into hoarder territory. Neat and clutter-free homes look best when you’re entertaining guests, but they also help you feel more at ease and eliminate sensory overload.

You might want to separate casuals from hand-wash-only clothes or keep sweaters out of sight, out of mind during the summer months. Figure out what items you don’t necessarily need at arm’s reach, and develop a system to keep them organized. Your work blazer is a must-have, but probably won’t need your cocktail dresses anytime soon.

Moving is inevitably stressful, but by following these tips, you can speed things up and get settled into your new space with ease and convenience.

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