Start a basis file on day one and add every improvement receipt — undocumented work is taxed as gain when you sell. Learn the shutoffs in week one, get technology credentials transferred while the seller is responsive, and live through a full year before changing anything discretionary.
Almost everything written about property concerns buying or selling it. The year after closing gets no attention, and it is when several expensive decisions get made.
Almost everything written about property concerns buying it or selling it. The year after closing gets almost no attention, and it is when several decisions are made that are expensive to reverse.
The most valuable ten minutes available and almost nobody does it.
Open a file — physical or otherwise — and put the closing statement in it. Then add every capital improvement receipt, every permit, every contractor invoice, for as long as you own the property.
When you eventually sell, gain is measured from your basis, and basis rises with capital improvements. Owners who cannot document decades of work pay tax on money they actually spent.
This is the single highest-return administrative act in property ownership, and it only works if it starts immediately.
Find and label the water shutoff, the gas shutoff, the electrical panel, and the isolation valves for each zone.
Do this in the first week, not during a leak at two in the morning.
On a large property, walk it with whoever knows it. Where the previous owner or their caretaker will spend an hour showing you how things work, that hour is worth a great deal. Ask before they lose interest.
Administrator credentials, account ownership, subscriptions, and documentation for automation, security, irrigation and audiovisual systems.
Chase this in the first month while the seller is still responsive. It becomes considerably harder once they have moved on, and a system nobody can access is a system that will eventually need replacing.
You bought a policy before you knew the property. After a few months you know it much better.
Revisit whether the coverage matches what is actually there: the outbuildings, the dock, the landscaping, the contents you have since moved in. Confirm the replacement cost figure is realistic rather than inherited from a template.
Where you have art, wine or collections, schedule them properly rather than relying on standard limits.
Confirm how the property will be reassessed and when the new figure arrives, and note the appeal deadline in advance rather than discovering it afterward.
File for any exemptions you are entitled to, which frequently have deadlines and are not automatic.
And update your estate documents. A significant new asset should be reflected in them within months rather than eventually.
A plumber, an electrician, a roofer, an arborist, a pool technician, and whoever services the systems that are unusual.
Finding them calmly, on a recommendation, is a different exercise from finding them at speed during a failure. Ask neighbors rather than searching.
On a property with specialist equipment, establish who serviced it before and whether they will continue.
The most useful discipline and the hardest to observe.
You do not yet know where the light falls in December, which rooms are cold, where water goes in heavy rain, or how you actually use the space. Owners who renovate in month three frequently undo it in year three.
Deal with anything genuinely broken. Postpone anything discretionary until you have seen the property in every season.
Unglamorous and consistently valuable.
They know the history of the property, which contractors are competent, what the association is like, what floods, and what is planned nearby. That knowledge is freely given and almost impossible to obtain otherwise.
It also matters practically. Boundary questions, shared maintenance and access arrangements all go better between people who have met.
Open a basis file with the closing statement and add every capital improvement receipt, permit and invoice from then on. Gain is measured from your basis, and owners who cannot document decades of work pay tax on money they actually spent.
The water and gas shutoffs, the electrical panel and the zone isolation valves — in week one, not during a leak. On a large property, walk it with whoever knows it while they are still willing.
Technology handover. Administrator credentials, account ownership, subscriptions and documentation become much harder to obtain once the seller has moved on, and an inaccessible system eventually needs replacing.
Yes, after a few months when you know the property. Confirm outbuildings, docks and landscaping are covered, that replacement cost is realistic, and schedule art, wine or collections properly rather than relying on standard limits.
After a full year. You do not yet know where the light falls in December, which rooms are cold or where water goes in heavy rain. Owners who renovate in month three frequently undo it in year three.
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