Selling a home can be stressful between the showings, open houses inspections, and paperwork to name a few, a few details prior to moving to your new home can be left behind. Check out our quick guide below of some things you won’t want to forget prior to moving!
1.Shut Off Utilities / Services
Once all the buyer’s contingencies have been removed, you should start preparing for the next phase of the escrow closing and moving process. As the seller, you are contractually required to leave the utilities on through the close of escrow. That being said, contact the correct utility companies and coordinate with the buyer to have them changed into the buyers name. Also, make sure to remember to do the same for the cable company, wifi company, alarm systems, and gardener and pool man, if necessary.
2.Change Mailing Address
Typically, when you sell a home you are moving to a new address. If you are moving and not renting back for a considerable amount of time (or Hugh Hefner who has permanent residency for the remainder of his life), you will want to coordinate with the post office to change your mailing address.
You can either do so by going into your local post office and picking up a Mover’s Guide or go online here: https://www.usa.gov/post-office
3. Organize Keys/Remotes
As the seller knowing all the ins and outs of the home, you will want to make sure the new owners have a seamless transition. Make sure to organize all of the keys and remotes to the home. This may include separate keys for entrances, gate openers, garage openers, mail box keys, common area keys if you live in a complex, etc.
4. Take Inventory and Donate or Sell
Prior to moving all of your belongings, its a good time to figure out which items to move to your new home, get rid of, donate or sell. In this time period, you should take inventory and separate everything out, then you can coordinate the correct moving trucks, schedule a donation pick up, or an estate sale.
5. Schedule Movers
Once you have parted ways with the items you don’t want to move, its best to coordinate with a moving company to come take a look at your items to give you a quote and set a date. This way, you aren’t left with any surprises with the price and you can make sure to let them know about any items you think should be handled with care.