Your Helpful Moving Out Checklist

What is Your Helpful Moving Out Checklist?

Moving day is finally here! You have done all the planning and organizing, now all that is left is to actually load up the U-Haul or moving truck and car and then hit the road to your new location. However, as you are already likely aware, before and during all of this there is still a seemingly huge number of things to do. Much of it is probably common sense, but still, it can help to have a list to keep yourself organized. Without further ado, here is your helpful moving out checklist.

Cleaning The House

You certainly don't want to leave a mess for the new owners. After all, how would you feel if you get to your new house and it hadn't been cleaned? Also, if you are still in the process of selling the home, that makes it even more imperative to leave it looking as good as possible.

The best way to approach cleaning the home is by waiting until everything has been moved out. This way, you can reach everything and won't have to move anything in the way. Make sure you get:

• Carpets, gutters, chimneys, and windows
• Kitchen—all cabinets, cupboards, and closets
• Bare floors mopped; all carpets vacuumed
• All light fixtures
• All remaining kitchen appliances
• All bathrooms
• Dusting (work from top to bottom)

Change Your Address

This is vital in order to ensure that you don't miss any important bills, checks, or other mail. You want to be sure to submit all your change of address forms to the postal service ahead of time and also notify banks, insurance companies, brokerages, and anything else you consider to be important.

This includes registering with your state DMV and having the address changed in their database. Most of the time, this can be done online, but check to be sure. Then, visit the US Postal Service website and submit a change of address form right there. The small fee of $1 is worth it because this ensures that as little of your mail will be misdirected as possible.

Review Closing Documentation

Take a look at your lease or closing papers. This should give you an idea of your responsibilities and you can also confirm your move out date. Just be aware of any stipulations in the paperwork, like doing specific types of cleaning before moving out.

Make Any Needed Repairs

This may or may not be stipulated in the lease or closing documentation, but if there is anything that needs to be repaired, it's certainly a good idea to fix it. This is especially true if the buyers are not aware of any potential problems. This should be planned out ahead of time in order to make the needed preparations, including hiring workers, if needed.

Yard Maintenance

This sort of falls under the area of cleaning. You want to give people a nice impression of your home and having a well-groomed yard will certainly help. Consider:

• Mowing the lawn
• Trimming bushes & hedges
• Raking leaves
• Picking up stray debris or garbage