Did you know that in the US, people move houses an average of about 11.7 times in their entire life? Call me old-fashioned but that’s a lot of moves during one lifetime for an individual. This is despite the fact that it’s a herculean task to leave your house and shift to an unknown place. Data shows that 44 percent of all moves in the US are of families or individuals for a new house upgrade, better work opportunity, or rising rents.
Moving houses is one of the most stressful times even for the most organized of us all. Moreover, if you are selling your house and buying the new house at the same time, it can get hectic and add to the stress. Opting for luxury housing with all utilities and amenities available takes half the stress off your mind.
For example, Houston is a booming job market that has a low cost of living and pleasant weather all year. That makes it an attractive place to move to for those looking for raising a family and building a life. What helps is that the city has easy to move options like Montrose Houston apartments.
However, before you move there’s a lot to take care of at your old residence from disconnecting the utilities to changing the delivery address. If planned well in advance, you can ensure that the move is seamless and you arrive at your new residence without a worry in the world. Here are the top things to consider before you move out.
Get Your Address Changed
This goes without saying, as you change your residence, your address changes as well. However, unless you notify everyone about it, they are going to be blissfully unaware of it. While that should be okay when it comes to avoiding unwanted acquaintances, however, it would be best to have your mail and subscriptions forwarded to the new address.
For mail and parcels, change your address online on the USPS website or head to the nearest post office and fill up the necessary paperwork. Once you have done that, the post office will only forward your mail for two months. Utilize these couple of months updating and notifying your subscription companies about the move so that they can update their database. Additionally, consider leaving your forwarding address with the new owners so that they can send across any stay parcel that finds its way to the old address.
Make Sure to Update Your Utility Detail
This is the second most important thing to consider. You wouldn’t want to keep receiving bills for utilities that you are longer using. This will not only save you from unnecessary billing but also prevent any problems for the new homeowners. Contact and inform any utilities that you have subscribed to including gas, electricity, cable, and internet, to let them know about the move.
Make sure to plan this well and give each utility service provider a set date to discontinue the service, which should ideally be the day you move out. Also, don’t forget to provide the new address to forward your full and final bill.
Don’t Forget the Homeowner’s Insurance
If you’re a responsible homeowner, you probably have a solid homeowner’s insurance policy in place. Also known as home policy, it covers destruction or damage to the property, theft of possessions, and personal liability for causing harm to others.
While it may sound intimidating, canceling a homeowner’s policy is as easy as picking up the phone. Let your insurance agent know about your wish to cancel the policy and send across the cancellation letter including name, policy number, address, intended cancellation date, and reason to cancel.
Go Marie Kondo on Your Boxes
Next comes the actual process of organizing the moving boxes. Plan ahead and label your boxes by room or color-code them to make the move easier. Additionally, remember to put the first box that needs to unload, the last in the moving truck.
Another wise move is to pack a separate box with essentials that you may need immediately. Unpacking and settling in your new house is a time-consuming process and you wouldn’t want to dig in the sheer amount of boxes to grab your toothbrush.
Instead, it would be wise to have a suitcase or a separate box containing overnight clothes, pet medications or food, personal items, dishes, and more. This you can immediately unbox upon your arrival and make the transition a lot smoother.
Ensure You Leave Behind a Clean House
Put yourself in the position of the new homeowners that are moving in after you and be considerate. You wouldn’t want to move into a house that is dirty and unhygienic, and that’s the case with everyone. If you are the homeowner selling it off, clean as if your security deposit depends on it.
Move appliances around and clean the space behind that hasn’t been cleaned in ages, dust and vacuum the whole house. If you have mice or pest problems, get pest control done on the property.
These are the most important things to know before moving houses. The key takeaway is to try to not leave any threads open for you later and also be considerate to the new homeowners who are moving in after you.