Your first 90 days in a new home: a valley checklist

Closing day is a finish line, but it's also a start line. Here's the list we hand every buyer with their keys.

Week one

• Change the locks and garage codes.
• Find the water shut-off, the main breaker and the gas valve — label them.
• Register for the town's bin and recycling calendar.
• Test smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms.

First month

• On a well? Book a water test; it's cheap and annual.
• On septic? Note the last pump-out date and diarise the next.
• Book a snow-ploughing contract before November — good operators fill up.
• Register to vote and update your licence address.

By day ninety

• Service the heating system before the first cold snap.
• Walk the boundaries with your survey in hand.
• Meet your neighbours — they know where the house's quirks are.

The best inspection report you'll ever get is a neighbour who's lived next door for twenty years.