Long Distance Moves: How to Get Your New Home Move-In Ready from Afar

With a lot of pre-planning and organization, along with plenty of hard physical work, you’ve successfully made it to moving day. However, did you know that at the same time, you could also make your new home move-in ready, all from your current home?

Thanks to rapidly expanding technology, you have many options at your fingertips to communicate with businesses across the country that will ensure your new digs are in great shape and ready to move into. Let’s look at a list of things you can do from afar to get your new home ready for you and your family.

All the tips below can likely be taken care of either online or by phone–a painless way to check these essential tasks off your to-do list.

Contact Utility Companies

Arrange to have electricity, water, and gas service, as well as cable and Internet, turned on before your move-in date – after you create a new account, that is.

Update Insurance

That includes policies on your new place and your things during the move. Get wise advice, so you have all the insurance you need, but not too much. Being over-insured can be a waste of money at a time when your budget may be stretched to its limit.

Change Your Address

Time your change of address to coincide with your move. You don’t want any mail to go astray. Sure, a lot of folks have paperless billing today, but much of what you still receive through the postal service is vital; some may contain personal information you want to come directly to you and not to the new occupant of your old house.

Determine If Carpeting is Clean and Spot-Free

Schedule an appointment for carpet cleaning if needed. Even if you’ve arranged for a maid service, carpets are best-taken care of by a company that specializes in carpet cleaning.

Clean carpets can also be a part of your home purchase contract.  Either way, pristine floors can be a tremendous boost to your level of satisfaction with your new home. Freshly cleaned carpets are especially comforting to those with small children and pets who constantly meet floors.

Hire a Professional House-Cleaning Service

Hire a cleaning company to get your new home sparkling clean from top to bottom, including windows, patio doors, and skylights. Additionally, hire a handyman to do touch-ups and take care of any nicks and dings to paint and scuffs to wood floors and tile or other hard surface floorings. You’ll love the fresh look and scent of a house that’s just been deep cleaned, as you spend the first night in your new home.

Let Movers Do the Heavy Lifting & Furniture Assembly

Your movers will place furniture and boxes into the room you designate. Seeing this in person for the first time may look like total chaos, but the heavy lifting will have been done. Then you can focus on the fun part of making rooms look more beautiful. Make sure to take note of the pieces that need assembled and find a handyman to help.

Hire a Home-Staging Service

If you want to walk into your new home as the moving van rolls away and find a less chaotic scene, home stagers – or an interior design service – can unpack home accessories and artwork and arrange them for a semblance of finished rooms.

A bonus may be the stager’s ideas of ways to use your old things in exciting new ways. In any case, this will give you peace of mind in a more ordered environment. If order is something you crave, staging may change the way you view your move and your new home.

Change Locks

You’ll want to contact a reputable locksmith to install new locks before move-in day. If you don’t change the locks, you’ll always wonder how many people have keys to your new home. It’s such a simple thing to do with such a big return: peace of mind is priceless.

Move-in Ready On the Outside, Too

For some, having freshly mown grass and perfectly manicured flower beds greet them as they arrive at their new home, is almost as important as a home that’s move-in ready on the inside. If you’re one of those people, continuing the landscape service the previous owner used or hiring a new one and scheduling the service for just before move-in day can be just what you need.

Don’t forget the patio or deck. A spot outside that’s clean and debris-free for dinner or coffee can be a welcome respite on moving day. With a well-maintained look from the curb, your new home tells you neighbors you care about it and the community at large. They’ll already consider you a good neighbor even before you move in.

Be a Good Neighbor

Offer an olive branch to your new neighbors ahead of your move by giving them a heads up about the arrival of the moving van. Let them know that other move-related vehicles may be in the neighborhood, too. You’ll also want to check parking regulations in your new community. Some of those can come with tickets and hefty fines for violations. Also, be sure no one blocks driveways or fire hydrants.

As you likely know, no matter how meticulously you plan and try to cover all the bases, no move is ever perfect. Be ready to go to Plan B or C or D. Flexibility, and a mindset of going with the flow will keep you sane as you complete your move. Whether it’s traffic delays, mechanical problems, or illness, none of these small emergencies care about your schedule, so be prepared to adjust your plan.

We wish you a smooth, uneventful move into your new home. Enjoy that beautiful, spotless environment in which you don’t have to worry about someone else’s mess or whose fingerprints those are on the bathroom mirror – or where that dirty smudge on the stovetop came from. That’s when you’ll be so happy you got your new house move-in ready from afar. It was worth every minute you invested in it!