8 Things You Need to Fix Immediately When Buying a New House

When you buy your new home, you are excited and exhilarated.

You are about to move and live in this amazing new place!

But then you move in and all of a sudden, you need to start fixing quirky things that you did not see when you first looked at the house.

These are the top things in the house that generally need fixing when you buy a new home!

So, it's good practice to set some money aside for the following quick fix and repair projects when buying your home:

#1 - Change Your Locks

First things first: you do not know who the previous owners gave a key to while living in their home: they may have given it to family members, cleaning providers or other professionals.

The last thing you want is unknown individuals having access to your home, so change your locks to avoid any easily-preventable issues!

#2 - Check Garage Door Safety Light

There is a safety light on most automatic garage doors. This safety light protects pets, children, and adults from getting hurt and cars from getting damaged.

It is good to test this light before opening and closing your garage doors.

#3 - Replacing Light Bulbs with Energy Efficient Bulbs

You can immediately start saving money with more energy efficient light bulbs.

So, setting aside some time and money to buy these bulbs and to replace them around the house will be helpful to your budget.

Replacing light bulbs throughout the house should easily be done in under an hour. It is worth your time to save money in the long term.

#4 - Replacing Air Filters

Replacing air filters is important to ensure you have clean air and good functioning heating and air conditioning units.

It is good to do this immediately as you probably do not know when the air filters were last changed.

#5 - Replace Water Filters

Your home may have a water filter system, and like the air filters, you do not know when the water filters were last changed.

It is good practice to change the filters and set up a schedule when you will continue to replace them.

#6 - Clean out the Dryer Vent

Cleaning out the dryer vent will prevent fires from occurring in your laundry room. This is yet another one of those tasks that ought to be scheduled as soon as possible.

Cleaning out the dryer vent is a good task to accomplish at least once per year. Without knowing when it was last cleaned, it is best to do it yourself.

Heck, some people have not cleaned their dryer vent for over 10 years!? Talk about a huge fire risk!

And a clogged dryer vent will force your clothes dryer to work harder, thereby increasing your monthly energy bill as well!

#7 - Clean the Stove Filter or Fume Hood

This is important and like the dryer vent, this area can cause a fire with grease build up.

Without knowing when the previous owners cleaned the stove filter or fume hood, you are better off taking care of this task sooner rather than later.

And not to mention, your food will taste better!

#8 - Check the Sprinkler System

Your new home may have an irrigation or sprinkler system, so it is important to walk around your yard while the sprinkler system is on and to make sure all the water is flowing and flowing properly.

Some of your sprinkler heads may be broken and you need to replace drip caps or sprinklers to keep water on plants. This will also prevent wasted water from overflowing elsewhere.

Plus, by replacing broken sprinkler heads, you will also save money on your water bill!

These simple fixes make managing your new home easier and if there's any good time to get all of these out of the way, why not make it the first task when you move in?!