It’s been about a year since our daughter purchased a home in another city.  After we completed shopping for her home, the closing process and unpacking her boxes, we realized there was a missing component to her home buying process.  What do you do after your settled?  It’s not time to put up your feet and relax just yet!

Below is a list of things every homeowner should do shortly after moving into their new home.  At Penn Homes, we want your home to be a safe and healthy place to build lifelong memories in.

1.  Create a home maintenance checklist.

To make sure your home stays safe and healthy for you and your family, you should regularly check, clean and/or test a wide variety of interior and exterior systems and structures. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a Home Maintenance Checklist that you can download from the HUD website . It provides basic guidelines for keeping your home dry, clean, well-ventilated, free from contaminants, pest-free, safe and well-maintained.

2.  Make sure you have enough insurance coverage.

At a minimum, you need to purchase a homeowners insurance policy to cover the house and all of your family’s belongings inside. To determine how much insurance you need, find out how much it would cost to rebuild your house today on your existing lot. Your personal property coverage should then be anywhere from 55 to 75 percent of that amount.

Damage caused by natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes and hurricanes are not covered by regular home owner’s policies, so depending on where you live, you may want to consider additional coverage. Your insurance agent can help you figure out the right amount of coverage and suggest upgrades or additional policies that would be appropriate for your specific situation.

3.  Protect your home from break-ins.

If you bought an existing home, you should rekey the locks right away. You never know who the previous owners gave keys to. The National Crime Prevention Council recommends that every exterior door should have a dead-bolt lock with a one-inch throw. They should be at least 1 3/4 inch metal or hard wood with the hinges on the inside.

Install a peephole or wide-angle viewer—not a chain—in all entry doors so you can see who is outside without opening the door. Sliding glass doors can be secured by placing a long piece of wood at least one inch thick in the track. Keep all entrances and doors well-lit, and prune shrubs so they don’t provide hiding space for someone who wants to break in.

4.  Prepare an emergency kit.

In the event of a disaster, local officials and relief workers may not be able to reach your home immediately, so you should have an emergency kit on hand.

Basic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment, and telephones may be cut off for days, or even weeks, so you should be prepared. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends stockpiling at least three days’ worth of food and water for your family. Their website http://www.ready.gov/ offers a list of items to include in a basic emergency preparedness kit, as well as guidelines on food and water storage and protecting yourself from airborne contaminants.

5.  Improve your home’s energy efficiency.

Even if you’ve purchased a brand new home with the latest energy-efficient building materials and techniques, there are still some improvements you can make to save even more money on utility bills. For example:

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with longer-lasting CFL or LED bulbs.
• Install a programmable thermostat that can be set to automatically adjust the heat or air when the home is most or least used.
• Increase the insulation in your attic, on exposed water pipes and around your water heater.

The U.S. Department of Energy has an online Home Energy Saverâ„¢ tool for home owners at http://www.hes.lbl.gov/ that recommends energy-saving upgrades that are appropriate for the home, the climate and local energy prices.

Even if you haven’t just moved, these suggestions will help you protect your family and maintain your investment for years to come.  If you have any suggestions that you feel would be beneficial to a new homeowner, please comment below.  We’d love to hear your tips for moving into a new home.

At this point, I’m sure you are wondering what I mean by “wide open spaces.”  I’m talking about “wide, open floor plans.” Like most families, we lead a pretty busy life and when we are home — we like to be connected.  So, an open floor plan is the perfect way for me to cook dinner, the kids to do their homework and dad to catch up on the evening news…all within earshot of each other.

Kitchen opens to Breakfast Room with added cabinet storage and a window seat.

Since this series is primarily talking about remodeling and renovating homes, let’s talk a few minutes about your kitchen.  When Mike is consulting on a remodel, he is often asked about knocking down walls and taking several of the smaller rooms and opening things up.  Many of the older homes he looks at have a “galley style” kitchen, and owners want more room.  Let’s be realistic – we don’t just “cook” in out kitchens anymore…kitchens are where we live and entertain!

So, what are your options:

• take down some walls, maybe add some columns to create more space
• new cabinets or at least put new doors and cabinet knobs on existing cabinets (if they are in good shape)
• countertops – make sure you research this one…lots of options!
• how about new appliances —
• lighting is very important – both task lighting and ambiance lighting
• need space for your computer and printer? include a home tech area right next to the kitchen…monitor the kids computer activity while preparing dinner
• add an island – creates more storage and gives more  counter space

If I’ve learned one thing from working at Penn Homes, it is to think out of the box when remodeling your kitchen.  If you are going to gut your kitchen and do a total remodel, look at the space as a blank canvas.  Don’t limit yourself on where the refrigerator “used to be” or where the stove “has always been.”  Remodeling your kitchen is probably the most expensive project you will do – it’s also #1 in popularity and has the most impact on resale.  So, here’s my 1-2-3 on wide open spaces:

• Take time planning.
• Look for affordable alternatives.
• Hire a licensed contractor.

Mike Penn finds that families want to spend time together – they want to reconnect after a day of work and school.  If you are looking to remodel your home, we’d love to help with your project…or…if you are interested in new home plans, we have a large selection of floor plans that feature an open floor plan.  At Penn Homes, we want you to have a pleasant experience and love your kitchen…your new “wide open spaces.”