Moving into a new home is exciting, especially if you’re a first-time homeowner. While relocating takes a lot of organization and planning, more work is ahead as you settle into your home. It’s not uncommon to feel overwhelmed after moving, so here are a few tips for your first year of homeownership.
Most new homeowners want to personalize their living spaces. This could mean arranging the furniture to your liking, updating or replacing the light fixtures, repainting, or working on a garden in the backyard. The list below will help you determine your priorities after moving into a new home.
Projects for the First Year of Homeownership
Walkthrough
Doing a walkthrough is helpful to start planning your first projects in the new home. Most sellers stage houses during showings, which means you might not know what the living spaces look like empty.
One of the reasons to do a quick walk-through of the home is to evaluate whether all issues recorded in the home inspection report have been fixed.
- Confirm repairs have been made.
- Verify everything in the sale agreement is present.
- Make sure fixtures, electrical outlets, and switches are in working order.
This gives you a chance to find issues and helps you visualize how you’ll arrange your belongings in the house.
Paint in the First Year of Homeownership
Few things spruce up a home’s appeal, like a fresh coat of paint. You might opt to paint interior rooms and personalize your home with your favorite colors. If you have kids, paint their rooms in their preferred colors and add art to decorate the walls.
Improve the Landscaping
Because you spend most of your time at home indoors, the interior look and feel are important. To make the exterior of your house welcoming and attractive, improve the yard and landscaping. It’s the first thing passersby and visitors see and where your kids and pets play.
Regardless of the size of your yard, there are endless landscaping ideas to choose from if you’re looking for inspiration for your new home. If you enjoy gardening, create an herb garden to grow spices to add to meals. Mint, oregano, basil, thyme, lavender, rosemary, and chives are popular options. Herb gardens are practical for everyday use and require minimal space and attention.
You might add azaleas, day lilies, and ornamental trees and grasses. By the end of your first year in a new home, you’ll have insight into what works in your area and what you prefer for your yard.
Seasonal Maintenance and Evaluation
As seasons change, you’ll need to take care of regular upkeep and maintenance around the house. Call an HVAC professional to inspect the heating and cooling system to verify it’s in good working condition. It’s a major inconvenience to have your HVAC fail on the hottest or coldest day of the year.
Look out for pest infestations in spring, clean your gutters a few times each year, and aerate the soil around your property in the fall.
The first year after moving to a new home is your time to familiarize yourself with the place, identify issues, and prioritize repairs. You’ll have the chance to personalize the house and create a home your entire family enjoys.
GoPro Home Inspections offers inspection services to home buyers in the Central Florida area. Contact us to request an appointment.