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We moved into a house that hadn't been updated in about 20 years, to give you an idea of what we were dealing with.

We did a ton, in about 6 weeks:

1: Ran electric in the attic to install ceiling lights in the 4 bedrooms, upgraded the electrical panel to accomodate the generator, installed a deadman switch on the pool pump, replaced pool heater, ran ducts in attic to vent bathroom fans
2. Painted the entire living area, kitchens, bedrooms, baths, including all trim and some doors, included removing wallpaper in kitchen and bathroom
3. Ripped out carpeting and sanded/finished hardwoods below, sanded and stained exterior deck
4. Steam cleaned rug in playroom, painted ceiling, washed walls (I don't know why we didn't paint, but that was a mistake, lol), installed new lighting
5. Washed kitchen, including moving appliances and cleaning cabinets (this took an entire day), deep cleaned bathrooms (half day).
6. Washed windows
7. Ripped out metal railings on staircase, installed wood pillars, built up half wall on landing
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All of this took about 6 weeks, we had pros do everything except cleaning the kitchen, bath and windows. My husband and I were working full time, there was no way we could have done it ourselves in a reasonable time.

If you're wanting to do anything to floors do it before moving in!

Definitely get someone to deep clean. I'd paint as much as you can before moving cause you'll never do it once you're in.

Get the locks changed (rekeyed).

Major renos (unless really urgent) are best to wait until you've lived there a year and know the space and what you want to change.

If nothing else deep clean the kitchen and the bathrooms!

@Foodnerd81: I wouldn't consider any of what we did major renovations, to me, that's gutting a kitchen or bathroom, removing walls. We haven't done any of that, nor do we plan to. As for the decorating, it's still ongoing, we didn't have furniture for all the rooms when we moved in.

The electrical was my "thing," I can't stand bedrooms that don't have overhead lighting! Once we started replacing fixtures, my dad was having a panic attack at the state of the wiring and promptly fixed all the outlets and fixtures.

We closed on Friday and moved in on Saturday, so we didn't do anything. It was in pretty good shape though - pretty clean, maintained, etc.

Steam cleaning carpets would be a good idea and any other deep cleaning necessary.

We've been reprinting as we decide on colors and though I definitely understand why people paint before moving in - clearing rooms out is a PITA - I'm really glad we waited so we could figure out what we want and how we use the house before making big decisions.

We had flexibility in our move in timing- don't be jealous, we lived with my parents for 6 months after selling and before finding a new place that would work.

We refinished the wood floors downstairs and installed brand new floors in the master bedroom. We painted our bedroom and our son's room. We cleaned the whole house. I wish we had painted more but we were anxious to move in and my husband was running out of time. We painted ourselves with family help and had the floors professionally done. One of these days our whole house will be painted!

We replaced some really old carpet in the bedrooms, and our realtor hired cleaners for us.

After moving in, we hired handy men to install fans/light fixtures, bars in the walkin closet, and replace a porch ceiling that was caving in

We had floors done (carpet out, hardwood in) upstairs, and the entire upstairs panted before we moved in.

We had a cleaning service do a deep clean- basic stuff and also appliances, drawers, cabinets, etc. before we moved in.

It's been 2 months and we are just now replacing the carpet with hardwoods on the stairs- doing that ourselves.

We did nothing (no time or money), but I would have loved to:
- Deep clean
- Get the walls painted (we eventually repainted them all, but it took months)
- Refinish the hardwoods on the first floor
- Replace the upstairs carpets with hardwood

We are also closing on a house soon and we will probably have 2ish weeks between closing and having to be out of our apartment. There's only one room with carpet and we plan on renting a steam cleaner and cleaning that. Deep cleaning the kitchen and all appliances. We are also looking into getting the tub re-glazed (it's PINK) and apparently it smells awful with a lot of fumes so hopefully we can schedule it for before the move. I want to paint what will be the nursery, but I'm just not sure we will have time, and since it'll stay empty for a bit after the move, it's not top priority. Mostly just making sure everything is clean...