New Florida Homeowner Starter Kit: What to Buy First
Congratulations — you closed. Now the fun part: every home needs a handful of things in the first month, and it's a lot cheaper to buy them on purpose than to make a panicked hardware-store run when something breaks. Here's the starter kit I'd hand a new Volusia homeowner — the paperwork that protects you first, the tools second.
Before you touch a single tool
These three don't cost anything and matter more than the toolkit.
- Confirm your wind-mitigation inspection is actually on file with your insurer. It's often the single biggest lever on your premium, and it doesn't automatically carry over from the previous owner — a new inspection in your name is usually required.
- Know your flood zone officially, not by guessing. Distance from water is a bad proxy — look up your specific parcel. It determines whether you need flood insurance and roughly what it costs.
- File your homestead exemption by March 1 if you haven't already — it's separate from anything your lender or title company handles automatically, and it's easy to assume someone else took care of it.
Once those are handled, here's the toolkit for everything else.
The tools you'll need day one
You don't need a full workshop — just the handful of things that come up the first week of hanging blinds, mounting TVs, and assembling furniture.
- A cordless drill/driver — the one power tool every homeowner uses constantly for blinds, shelves, and flat-pack furniture.
- A basic home tool kit — covers most household fixes in one box: screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers.
- A stud finder — no guesswork mounting heavy things into drywall, finds the whole stud at once.
- A small folding ladder — for AC filters, smoke detectors, and the lightbulb you can't reach.
Safety first — especially in an older Florida home
Replace these on day one; you don't know how old the previous owner's were, and Florida's humidity and storms are hard on electronics.
- A combo smoke and carbon-monoxide detector — swap out anything older than a few years, detectors expire.
- A UL-rated home fire extinguisher — one in the kitchen, one in the garage. Cheap peace of mind.
- A surge-protector power strip — Florida's lightning capital is rough on electronics, protect the TV and computers.
Security and the yard
Two things to handle the first week: control who has a key, and get ready for the lawn.
- A keypad deadbolt — change the locks the day you move in, you have no idea who has old keys. A keypad means no more hiding a spare.
- An expandable garden hose — for rinsing salt air off the house, the car, and the new landscaping.
Frequently asked questions
What's the first thing I should do after closing on a house?
Change the locks (or re-key them). The previous owners, their relatives, contractors, and a hidden spare may all have keys. It's a same-day, do-it-yourself job with a keypad deadbolt.
What home maintenance is specific to coastal Florida?
Rinse salt air off exterior surfaces, change AC filters often (the system runs nearly year-round), watch indoor humidity for mold, and keep an eye on the roof — it's the biggest insurance and storm exposure here.
How do I know how old my home's roof and systems are?
Your inspection report and the seller's disclosures cover a lot of it, and the AC and water heater usually have date labels. If you're not sure how roof age affects your insurance and value, that's exactly the kind of thing I help local homeowners sort out.
Keep going
- Moving to Volusia: first-week home essentials
- Coastal Florida humidity & mold defense
- Smart-home upgrades for a Florida home
- Storm & power-outage backup for a Florida home
- Florida lawn & yard starter kit
- Home staging on a budget: sell for more
- Hurricane prep checklist for your coastal Volusia home