The nerves are setting in, boxes are packed, and you are getting prepared to leave your home, and send it off to the new buyers. This is a big step! Whether you have lived in your home for 40 years or 4 years, selling your home is an emotional and taxing process. Before you can hand the keys over to the new homeowners there are a few things to do to make sure everything goes smoothly:

• Stop services on your utilities (such as internet, electric, gas, oil, etc). Some companies will even allow you to cancel in advance, so this can be done weeks before closing day.

• Cancel your home insurance.

• Change your address on USPS so they will forward any mail to your new address, and change your address for any magazine subscriptions or newspapers.

• Notify your neighbors, friends, and family of your impending move.

• Make sure you move everything out (unless the buyers are keeping any of your furniture, drapery, or other items), and clean. If you do not have time to clean, we recommend hiring a cleaning service.

• If you have any items, furniture, or clothes you are not sure what to do with and do not want to take them with you, hand them off to Goodwill, secondhand shops, or other local charities, but do not leave them for the buyers to deal with.

• Maintain your lawn, or hire a landscaping service to cut the grass and shrubs one last time.

• Take a walk-through and make sure you haven’t left any personal items in places you may have forgotten, like sheds, corners of basements, attics, and closets.

• As a courtesy to the buyers, but all of the remotes, spare keys, garage codes, shed keys, and other important items are in a drawer or safe space. You can also gather any appliance warranties or manuals and keep them in a drawer.

• If you are moving to a new school district, it’s a good idea to have your children’s school records transferred to their new school.

• Schedule the final walkthrough, which normally happens on the morning of closing day, and takes an hour or two, for the buyers and their Realtor to walk through and make sure everything is in order and working properly. You do not need to be present at the walkthrough.