Buying your first Asheville home is exciting! Whether it is your first home purchase or a new-to-you Asheville home, here are some tips every homeowner should know when moving into a new house.
1. Change the locks. You really don’t know who else has keys to your home, so change the locks. That ensures you’re the only person who has access. Install new deadbolts yourself for as little as $10 per lock, or call a locksmith — if you supply the new locks, they typically charge about $20-$30 per lock for labor.
2. Check for plumbing leaks. Your home inspector should do this for you before closing, but it never hurts to double-check. Keep an eye out for dripping faucets and running toilets, and check your water heater for signs of a leak.
Here’s a neat trick: Check your water meter at the beginning and end of a two-hour window in which no water is being used in your house. If the reading is different, you have a leak.
3. Steam clean carpets. Do this before you move your furniture in, and your new home life will be off to a fresh start. You can pay a professional carpet cleaning service — you’ll pay about $50 per room; most services require a minimum of about $100 before they’ll come out — or you can rent a steam cleaner for about $30 per day and do the work yourself.
4. Wipe out your cabinets. Another no-brainer before you move in your dishes and bathroom supplies. Make sure to wipe inside and out, preferably with a non-toxic cleaner, and replace contact paper if necessary.
5. Give critters the heave-ho. That includes mice, rats, bats, termites, roaches, and any other uninvited guests. There are any number of DIY ways to get rid of pests, but if you need to bring out the big guns, an initial visit from a pest removal service will run you $100-$300, followed by monthly or quarterly visits at about $50 each time.
6. Introduce yourself to your circuit breaker box. My first experience with electrical wiring was replacing a broken light fixture in a bathroom. After locating the breaker box, which is in my garage, I turned off the power to that bathroom so I wouldn’t electrocute myself.
It’s a good idea to figure out which fuses control what parts of your house and label them accordingly. This will take two people: One to stand in the room where the power is supposed to go off, the other to trip the fuses and yell, “Did that work? How about now?”
The Buyer’s Agent of Asheville is a local Asheville real estate firm dedicated entirely to assisting home buyers find their home. We provide laser focus (see the homes that match your search criteria), fierce negotiating skills (save you money) and detailed transaction management (you don’t need to stress). Located at 82 Patton Avenue, Suite 211 in Asheville, North Carolina. Contact the Buyer’s Agent at 828-210-4663. Follow @buyersagentavl or Like on Facebook.
Original Article Posted on HouseLogic by Courtney Craig
