The 5 best move-in tips to give your Buyers
After your Buyers sign the paperwork, move their belongings, and settle into their new home, they’ll likely ask, “Now what?” Home ownership brings a lot of added responsibilities for Buyers, some they may have never had before. Here are five of the best move-in tips for after move-in to help Buyers get started on the right foot.
Change your locks
Changing the locks Even if the Sellers were the nicest people in the world, it’s essential to change the locks. Changing locks makes the house safer, keeps homeowners in control of who has access, and can even increase the home’s value a bit.
A great way to encourage Buyers to change their locks right away is to partner with 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty (2-10 HBW) and enroll them with a systems and appliances home warranty. As an added perk of being a 2-10 HBW customer, your Buyer can get reimbursed up to $100 for installing new door locks, making key copies, and/or re-keying their home within 45 after closing through Happy Home Lock & HardwareSM.
If the home has a security system or garage codes, homeowners should change those too. Changing locks is one of the easiest ways for your Buyers to start home ownership on the right foot.
Update your address
It’s easy for homeowners to forget to update their addresses in the whirlwind of moving. You can recommend several places to start:
- Post office
- Insurance companies
- Banks, credit unions, and credit card companies
- Telecom companies (internet, phone, and cable)
- Utilities companies (gas, water, electric, trash)
- DMV/RMV
These entities will likely be the most important places for homeowners to update their addresses. You can also recommend that homeowners keep an eye out for any forwarded mail. Once they update their address with the post office, checking for forwarded mail is a good way for homeowners to see which places they forgot to update their addresses with. The post office will forward mail from their old address for up to a year.
Find the house’s shutoff valves
Knowing how to shut off the house’s main systems is an extremely important move-in tip. At a minimum, homeowners should know where three main shutoff valves are.
- Main water shutoff valve: If a pipe bursts or an appliance starts leaking, knowing where the main water shutoff valve is can mitigate potential damage and minimize costly repairs.
- Circuit box: Knowing the circuit box’s location and which circuits control which rooms is valuable to homeowners. It lets them reset blown fuses easily and turn off the power to a room for painting or maintenance. On top of helping your Buyers find the circuit box, strongly encourage them to label it.
- Natural gas shutoff valve: Finding the natural gas shutoff valve (if the house uses natural gas) is important, but not necessarily for emergencies. Remind your Buyers that if they ever see, hear, or smell a gas leak, they should evacuate the house immediately and call 911 or their natural gas provider. Knowing where the gas shutoff valve is can help homeowners if they ever do larger home improvement projects.
Buy a fire extinguisher
New homeowners and first-time homeowners might overlook having a fire extinguisher, especially if they are coming from an apartment, which likely had an extinguisher nearby. Recommending a fire extinguisher for each level of the home can keep homeowners safe.
Purchase a home warranty
Having a home warranty protects your Buyers when they need it most. A home warranty from 2-10 HBW can protect your Buyers’ budgets, systems, and appliances as they take a huge step forward in their lives. A home warranty can reduce the costs of repairing or replacing qualified items that break down from routine use. It can also save homeowners the headache of finding a good Service Contractor to address their issues.
Whether you negotiate with the Seller to include a home warranty, provide one as a gift, or recommend that the Buyer purchase one, a home warranty is a smart investment. It can reduce the cost of home ownership while improving the experience of home ownership.
2-10 HBW offers comprehensive systems and appliances home warranties to help protect your clients from unexpected repair and replacement costs. Contact us to learn more.
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