What To Do After Closing on a Home | My TOP 10 and How to Avoid Getting Scammed After Closing!

so you confidently close now what should you be doing after closing i'm going to give you my top 10 tips for after closing i'm shaheeda hill getting you over the hill to home ownership and helping you confidently buy your first home so number one after your closing i want you to take all of those closing documents and put them in a safe place that is easily accessible so if you need to get some of that closing paperwork after closing that you'll know exactly where it is sometimes you can get lost in the move so i want to make sure that you prioritize putting that into a safe place number two beware of scammers because when you buy a house the deed is recorded and that deed is public record like now everybody knows that you bought a house a lot of people buy that information trying to sell you things so first i want you to be on the lookout for companies that mail you items trying to sell you a copy of your deed more than likely you paid for a copy of your deed when you paid for your closing costs when you paid your closing costs they probably included some title fees and usually a copy of your deed so just make sure that you don't pay for your deed is not necessary and if you ever need an another copy of your deed you can go to your courthouse your local courthouse to get a copy of it probably at way less of a cost than these people that are mailing you are trying to sell you one for number two more than likely your loan will be sold to another loan or mortgage servicer the person the lender that you've been dealing with through your closing process or through your borrowing process is not necessarily going to be who you pay your mortgage to so during the process when you get pre-approved you want to ask them do you service your own loans or what's the likelihood that your my loan will be sold more than likely you'll find that a lot of them sell their loans their loan servicing and they don't service your loan or your mortgage in-house so where scammers come in they try to mail you um notice that your loan has been sold and for you to start paying either online or mailing payments to another place so if you get letters like this in the mail i want you to contact your lender and they can tell you if your loan has been sold they also can tell you who that who your loan has been sold to so you know exactly where to where to send your payment so be on the lookout for those two scams after closing number three make sure that you've transferred all utilities in your name i've been at closings on the seller side where the buyers have not transferred all the utilities at closing and my clients have turned off the utilities at closing sometimes you'll find some sellers that are willing to leave them on maybe a day after closing but that's not always the case you want to make sure that the utilities are in your name the day of closing so for example if you close on a friday and you haven't transferred anything in your name you probably won't have those utilities through the weekend so you want to make sure that you've transferred everything in your name at by closing and if you haven't because sometimes you may require your settlement statement showing that you own the house so sometimes you do have to wait until after closing for some utilities but just make sure you're aware of which ones you have to wait for but number three is make sure you get the utilities transferred into your name number four you want to change your locks and your garage codes if you have a garage any kind of codes that allow entry into your home you want to update those codes so that nobody that you know had access to the prior house can have access to your home now in some new construction homes it may not be necessary they have locks now that when you put in your key it kind of tumbles the new lock to make it to re-key it so you don't have to pay for somebody to change your locks on new construction but not all the time so you do want to check with the builder to see if it's necessary for you to change your locks but for the most part on resales you do want to make sure you change your locks and change any access codes that might allow entry into your home number five apply for homestead exemption now this is going to vary by state but in georgia and in other states it's called homestead exemption it allows you to save on property taxes if you are buying your primary residence if you are buying a house that you're going to live in it allows you to save money on property taxes so this is something you have to apply for after closing so you want to make sure of number one do you have some kind of exemption you need to apply for to save on your taxes and if so when can you apply for it usually you have to wait until your deed is recorded before you can apply but you want to apply as soon as you're able to so we're halfway through our list please like and subscribe to my channel for new videos every week and hit the bell icon so you're notified when my new videos come out number six get all of your smart home technology in your name so a lot of homes especially new homes but some older homes as well may have ring doorbells that came with the house different kind of um even a thermostat now comes you know as a smart home technology you want to make sure that all of that technology is set up so you can control it and that's something that if there are codes or passwords that were needed that you should have received from the seller prior to closing or at closing so you want to get as many of those things set up and get them out of the seller's name or out of their phone um and then into your phone so you can control those things number seven make sure you've done all of your address changes you forwarded your mail from the post office if you have some ongoing subscriptions you want to change that address to your new house you'll be surprised even sellers who still have a lot of things coming to their former residence and then if i have a buyer client they're always getting things that the seller you know didn't forgot they ordered and that sort of thing i think it's a nice thing to do especially if it's been a harmonious transaction so you don't always have to go through your agents if the seller and the buyer want to exchange information just in case they want to call or you get a package that sort of thing if you don't feel comfortable you're all always you know you can go through your agents for communication the seller's agent buyer's agent can still communicate after closing to make sure you get some of your personal items that might be delivered to your old address okay number eight it may be a good idea now that you're a homeowner to make sure you have money set aside for your home maintenance items so you want to maybe open a savings account put some money in there and make it a habit of putting money in there so if you do need money for home repairs and you will at some point you have that money aside from your other you know your checking accounts or other savings accounts you can open account just for home maintenance items number nine update if you're moving out of your city out of your state you want to make sure you update your driver's license maybe your car tag your car registration that you register to vote in your area so you want to make sure anything you need to update that is updated for your new address so when it's time to vote you know where to vote when it's time for you to use your license for different things you your license is updated with your new state or new city your new address and number 10 is you likely did a home inspection during if you watch my videos you did a home inspection while you were buying the house and the seller may have not addressed everything on the home inspection so you still may have some items that are outstanding that are still important to you it might be a good idea to schedule some of those things to be completed after closing and this is my little bonus my last thing you may want to meet your neighbors i know a lot of times maybe your neighbors don't come right over to you as soon as you move in like you see on tv but take some time in the first week or so when you move in to meet your neighbors meet your neighbor to the left to the right and across the street you may find it helpful especially if you have children or if you're new to the area they may be able to help you with landscape recommendations some information about the schools just a lot of things that you need to know in your new neighborhood i hope this was helpful and i hope you are enjoying your new home please like and subscribe for new videos every week

Channel: Shaheedah Hill

Views: 91,293

Keywords: Shaheedah Hill, Atlanta real estate, First time home buyer, First time homebuyer, First time home buyer tips, What to do after closing on a home, How to avoid getting scammed after closing, What to do after closing on, what to do after closing on a house, what to do after closing on a new construction home, what to do after closing on a condo, what to do after closing on a home, what to do after closing on your home, what not to do after closing on a home

Id: yG_6pR8ptkE

Length: 9min 45sec (585 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021