Moving in and Securing Your New Home

Like many people in the United States, you look at owning a home as a key part of the American dream. Sure, renting a house or apartment does have perks—because your landlord is responsible for most of the maintenance and repairs, all you need to do is call him or her when something needs to be fixed. But as the owner of a home, you’re the ruler of your domain. This gives you the power to do things like paint the walls whatever color you want, hang pictures without needing permission to drive nails into the wall and put actual effort into the home upgrades you want.

Before settling in and making your new home your own, for the sake of safety, look into new lock replacement in Fairfax, VA. Change those locks whether you purchased a brand-new home or an existing structure. Let’s talk about a few things every new homeowner should consider doing to secure their property upon moving in, including changing the locks:

• Get homeowner’s insurance: Homeowner’s insurance is different from renter’s insurance. At this stage in homeownership, you will need to look into new home, property, flood, fire or earthquake insurance. It’s okay if you aren’t sure what types of coverage you need to sign up for. Simply call your insurance company and talk it out with a representative.
• Create an emergency contact list: One of the first things you should do is make a new emergency contact list to keep on the side of your refrigerator (or somewhere easily accessible). Look up the phone numbers for county services and emergency response in your new town—including the police, animal control and utility companies (water, power, sewer, cable). Even a list of non-emergency numbers can be good to have on hand. Also, add personal emergency contacts of close family and friends who live nearby.
• Assess the home security system: If your new home has a home security system, activate it before your move-in date. If it doesn’t have a security system, seriously consider installing one.
• Change the locks on an older home: The thing about buying a previously lived-in home is that there’s no way to know how many spare keys are out there. The previous owner may have kept one as a keepsake, or neglected to gather up all the keys from friends, family members, neighbors, and household helpers. Your options range from lock rekeying to installing an electronic keyless entry system and traditional new lock replacement in Fairfax, VA.
• Change the locks on a new build: Even if you invested in brand-new home construction, don’t assume you possess the only copies of the keys. Others, such as construction crews and contractors, are likely to have keys. With this in mind, the safest thing to do is replace all the “brand-new” locks with different new locks for which no one else has keys.

Congratulations on your new home, and welcome to the neighborhood! From rekeying the locks on your new home to performing new lock replacement in Fairfax, VA, the team at Artie’s Lock and Key has you covered. Call us today and let us know what we can do for you!

Categorised in: New Lock Replacement

This post was written by Writer