Important Information for First-Time Homeowners

Having excitedly bought your first property, whether it’s a small apartment or a larger house, the associated responsibilities can often be somewhat overwhelming. Along with professional advice from your realtor and trustworthy online resources for real estate information, the following tips will be useful for first-time homeowners to know.

Take Detailed Meter Readings

The last thing you want to be doing is paying for the utilities of the previous owner of the house, so make sure that as soon as possible, you take detailed readings of each utility meter as soon as you can after you’ve moved in.

Ideally, as well as recording them electronically and sending them to your utility providers, along with your new address and moving-in date, you should also take photographs of each reading on your phone and save the photo in case you need it later down the line.

Make Sure That Everyone is Aware of Your New Address

There are so many things to do after just moving into your new home that sometimes, the more obvious and indeed, simple tasks are overlooked. You may be surprised to learn that a considerable number of people forget to update their address with important institutions such as their bank or social security.

To help you, here’s a list of the essential people you need to update your address with:

• IRS (Internal Revenue Service)
• Voter registration
• Utility providers
• Dental, health & life insurance providers
• Dentists and doctors
• Magazine & book subscriptions
• Streaming services
• Your employer
• Social security
• Banks
• Cable, phone & internet

In addition, to avoid losing contact with friends from school and other people in your life who may not have social media, make sure that you update your loved ones on the move, too.

Live in the Present: Plan for the Future

Even though it may seem counterintuitive to look to the future of your experience on the property ladder, if you know that further down the line, you’ll need to finance your dreams of a once in a lifetime vacation, then you need to ensure that you keep every single piece of documentation.

Keep your house deeds, insurance documents, and absolutely everything else pertaining to the purchase of your new property in a non-flammable folder or cabinet, and be sure to include any additional documents in the future.

Debt Management is Essential

Whether you were fortunate enough to have a substantial amount of financial support with your deposit and down payments on your first home, or you diligently saved your spare income for many years, you’re now the owner of a sizeable debt: your mortgage.

If you’re planning on building your inventory of furniture, accessories, and home decor for your new house as you go, then make sure you still keep a sizeable amount of money in your savings for those unexpected expenses.

If you’ve bought a new-build home, then for the first two years or so, if something serious happens to the structure of your home or backyard, you’ll be likely be covered, but if not, or if it occurs after this time has elapsed, you’re on your own.