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It’s important that when buying a house you realize that the work doesn’t stop as soon as you close on your new home.  In fact, in many cases, the work is just beginning.  It’s extremely important that when buying a house you consider completing the following tasks after closing.  By completing the following tasks, new homeowners greatly improve the chances they’re happy with their home purchase for many years to come!

Make Copies, Store Them In A Safe Place

When buying a home there are a lot, and we mean a lot, of documents that will be signed and executed.  Many of the documents that buyers receive when buying a home maybe needed in the future for a variety of reasons. For example, if a buyer decides to put up a privacy fence on their property, a local municipality is likely going to request to see the survey map of their property prior to agreeing to a permit.  After closing, it’s important that you get copies of all the documents from the buying process as well as the closing.  Make sure that you store these documents in a safe place, such as a safe or private filing cabinet. You can also have digital versions of these documents saved in a safe and secure place!

Change The Locks

One task to complete after closing on a new home that most buyers are aware of is changing the locks or re-keying them.  A common mistake made by new homeowners who’ve recently closed on their new home is they decide to not spend the money to change the locks. Changing the locks on a new home is highly recommended for security purposes.  It is required that all keys to a property are delivered to a buyer at closing, however, it’s impossible to truly know if every key is accounted for. The cost of changing the locks or having them re-keyed should not be more than a couple hundred dollars, depending of course on the number of locks.  A couple hundred dollars is well worth the additional “peace of mind” that comes with knowing you have the only keys that can gain access to your new home!

Alert People & Companies About Your Move

After closing on a new home, another important task to complete relatively quickly is alerting important people and companies about your new home.  Within a couple days after closing on a new home, a buyer should first alert the United States Postal Service.  This will ensure that important mail will not go undelivered!

The USPS is only one of the important people and/or companies that should be aware of a change of address.  Below are a few of the other important people and/or companies to alert of a new address.

• Friend and relatives
• Work
• Financial institutions
• Insurance companies
• Phone, internet, and cable companies
• Schools
• Medical offices – dentist, physician, etc…
• Accountant
• Church
• Newspaper subscriptions

We at Lake Superior Real Estate can find you the home, sell you the home and get you through closing but after that, these steps are up to you!