A few phone photos now will save you a lot of guessing later.
Moving is one of those things people assume they’ll remember. You won’t. Two weeks after closing you’ll be standing in a living room in Bennet or Syracuse holding a handful of cables, trying to figure out which one went where, and whether the couch ever actually fit against that wall. Ten minutes of pictures before the boxes go up fixes most of that.
I bring this up with almost every client, especially folks selling a Lincoln starter home and moving out to one of the small towns east of us. You’re already managing two closings, two move dates, a truck, and a job. Your brain is full. Let your phone carry the details instead.
Photograph the back of everything that plugs in
This is the one people thank me for. Before you unplug anything, take a picture of the back of it.
- TV and soundbar, with the cables still connected
- Router, modem, and whatever wall jack they run to
- Washer and dryer hookups, including the vent
- Dishwasher and range connections if you’re taking them
- Any wall plate or junction box you’re going to disconnect
Get close enough that the labels are readable. If your setup has a specific plug-in order, shoot the wall outlet too. It’s a lot easier to copy a photo than to reverse engineer a mess of black cords on a Saturday night.
Measure your furniture, then photograph the numbers
Write the dimensions on a sticky note, stick it to the piece, and take the picture. Sofa, sectional, dining table, bed frames, the big dresser, the fridge if it’s going with you.
Do the same for the rooms in the house you’re buying, if you can get back in before closing. Wall lengths, doorway widths, the tight turn at the top of the stairs. A lot of the older homes in Weeping Water, Elmwood, and Palmyra have narrower stairwells and doorways than what you’re used to in a newer Lincoln build. Better to learn that with a tape measure than with a movers and a stuck box spring.
Windows deserve their own photos
Measure every window you’ll want covered and photograph the numbers next to the window. Curtains and blinds rarely transfer cleanly from one house to the next, and standing in an uncovered bedroom the first night is a miserable way to start.
Shoot the storage layouts before you empty them
Open the pantry, the linen closet, the garage shelving, the utility room, and take a wide photo of each one as it currently sits. You spent years figuring out that arrangement. A photo lets you rebuild the good parts somewhere new instead of starting from zero.
Same goes for anything you disassemble. Photograph the bed frame hardware, the crib pieces, the shelving brackets, all of it, before the screws go in a bag.
Don’t skip the mechanical and outdoor stuff
If you’re moving to an acreage or a property with outbuildings, this matters more than people expect.
- Breaker panel with the labels visible
- Water main shutoff and the main gas or propane shutoff
- Water heater, furnace, and any filter sizes printed on the unit
- Well pressure tank and septic lid locations, if you have them
- Where the sump pump discharges
- Mower attachments and how they mount
Take these at the house you’re leaving so the next owner can be told the truth, and take them at the house you’re buying during your final walkthrough. Future you will be very grateful in February.
Keep the sensitive things out of shared albums
Here’s the part nobody warns you about. Once you start a shared photo album with your spouse, your mover, your family, or a helper, everything in it is visible to everyone in it.
Keep loan documents, closing statements, insurance paperwork, tax records, IDs, and anything with account numbers out of that album entirely. Same with photos of a safe, a gun cabinet, or a wall of expensive tools. If you need a record of a document, keep it in a private folder on your own device. Share the cable pictures. Don’t share your financial life.
Why this matters more when you’re selling and buying at once
Because timing gets tight. Sometimes there’s a gap between closings and your furniture sits in a storage unit or a relative’s garage for a couple weeks. Sometimes the truck gets loaded before you’ve ever set foot in the new house with a tape measure. Photos are what keep that gap from turning into chaos.
I’d rather plan for the messy version and be pleasantly surprised. That’s true for the moving day and it’s true for the deal itself. It takes as long as it takes – if you don’t give up on me, I won’t give up on you.
If you’re working through a move from Lincoln out to Murdock, Louisville, Unadilla, or anywhere along Highway 2 and Highway 50, reach out and start a conversation. Nothing to sign. We’ll just talk through your situation and build a plan that fits it.
Take the pictures before the boxes go up. Then go love where you live.
If you’re juggling a sell and a buy at the same time, or eyeing a move to the small towns east of Lincoln, this is exactly what I do all day: See how I work →