So you’ve sold your house and are about to move into a new one. Other than the physical move itself, you think you’re about done with the process.

Well, think again. You still have plenty to do.

For starters, notify your utility providers that you will be leaving your current address on the day you close the deal on your old place. Once you close, the utilities are your buyer’s responsibility.

At closing, you might give the buyers a list of the house’s utility providers and their phone numbers. This isn’t required, but it is a courtesy, especially if they’ve been cooperative through the entire process.

It’s also a nice gesture to dig up all the manuals (if you still have them) for your appliances and hand them over to your buyers. That way, they’ll be able to safely operate that fancy range or refrigerator, and have the customer service phone numbers at hand, if needed.

While you’re dealing with the gas, water and electric companies, set up those services for your new home. If the new place is in the same service area, this should be a simple matter of switching your existing account to a new address. But if you are moving farther, you might have to post a fee to open a new account. Don’t forget your other services such as cable, trash pick-up and the like.

Let the post office know your new address, and send change-of-address notices to your friends, relatives and credit accounts. If you don’t notify your creditors, you could be hit with expensive late fees and penalties as your bills are slowly rerouted.

Call your insurance agents to tell them of your impending move. You’ll need to have home insurance in place at the closing on your new digs, and proof of coverage. If you are moving into a flood zone, you might also need flood insurance; otherwise, your lender will balk at closing. Fortunately, flood coverage is available from more than just Uncle Sam’s National Flood Insurance Program. Many private carriers also offer policies, so shop around. Just be sure to have it in place at closing.

Of course, you’ve already lined up a professional mover or a gaggle of buddies to help haul your stuff. But have you started bringing home plenty of boxes? What about newspapers or bubble wrap so you can protect your most valuable and delicate items?

If you are using a moving company, have some cash on hand for tips -- if they do a good job. As for friends, you’ll want to provide lunch and maybe even dinner. Pizza, perhaps, or sandwiches, and obviously some cold drinks -- or hot, depending on the time of year you are switching houses.

While awaiting your move, it might be a good idea to learn your new neighborhood. Figure out your new commute to work; find out where the grocery store and other essential shops are located; ascertain where the restaurants, movie theaters and other entertainment venues are.

Here, your local realty agent -- or the builder’s salesperson, if you are buying a new house -- can be of immense help. He or she should be able to provide maps, pamphlets and other information that can be extremely useful.

At settlement, you’ll be given a stack of important documents, so don’t lose or misplace them in the chaos of moving. Make some kind of provision to put your papers in a safe and secure place until you can store them permanently.

You’ll need your closing statement and perhaps some other documents come tax time. And keep receipts for any move-related expenditures. If you are moving because of work, you may be able to write off these expenses, as long as you meet the IRS’s rules and requirements.

Unless your children are old enough to help with the move, make plans to keep them out of the way. Hire a sitter, or leave them with a friend or relative. But don’t shut them out of the move completely. After all, this is their new home, too. Once everything is unloaded into the proper rooms, the kids can be brought back to help unpack a few things.

Speaking of progeny, make sure to enroll them in their new schools prior to the move. Take them to see the school so they can familiarize themselves with the building, and possibly meet a teacher or two and a few new classmates. Any advance work of this kind will help make the transition smoother.

Along this same line, you might want to walk around the new neighborhood on a weekend with your kids in tow, so all of you can meet the new neighbors. If no one is outside, don’t be shy about knocking on doors and introducing yourselves.

Cash offers are one thing. But when they are verbal, realty professionals agree that they’re not worth the paper they’re not printed on.

A few months ago, Janice Zaltman, an agent with Keller Williams Partners in Hollywood, Florida, received a text from another agent -- who should have known better -- that he had a client who wanted to make a cash offer on a property Zaltman had listed. Her response: “Please put it in writing and show proof of funds.”

She never heard another word, she said in a recent post on real estate site ActiveRain. When she followed up with the other agent, “he informed me that he could not reach the buyer. She had disappeared.”

Four days later, Zaltman received a similar text from another agent. Her response, again, was: “I don’t do verbal offers.”

Writing offers is what good agents do. It’s part of the job description. “Nobody wants to waste their time,” Zaltman said in her post. But “writing offers and presenting them to get accepted ... is part of our business.”

The responses from other realty pros were nearly unanimous. “I totally agree,” said Kristin Hamilton of Keller Williams Realty in Redlands, California. Her standard response? “I will present all written offers to my sellers.”

Added Jeff Dowler of Solutions Real Estate in Carlsbad, California: “If it’s not in writing, it’s not real. Gone are the days of handshake deals.”

In Maryland, reports Buzz Mackintosh of Mackintosh Realtors in Frederick, verbal offers are not binding. Offers there must be in writing to be enforceable. Ditto in New Jersey, said Marna Brown-Krausz of RE/MAX Greater Princeton.

Bruce Kunz of Century 21 Solid Gold Realty in Brick, New Jersey, contended that “if a buyer can’t sign a paper, there is no way to take them seriously.”

Theo Shaw of Baird and Warner Residential in Evanston, Illinois, said, “When the buyer can’t be bothered to submit a written offer, they are not serious buyers.”

Zaltman, who started this conversation, wrote that there are important reasons never to accept a verbal offer. Several are for the protection of the listing agent, but a couple apply to the sellers.

For example, if you agree to a price verbally, the buyer could rethink their offer and submit a lower one. Or, if the offer is accepted and the buyer has a change of heart, the buyer loses nothing: With no written contract, there is no deposit to forfeit.

Also, verbal offers rarely take into account the many important details that are covered in a written contract. Price is just one item. Among other things, there are points, deposits, inspections, appraisals, financing and the closing date.

The moral is this: If you receive a verbal offer, even at or above your asking price, don’t get too excited. Rather, get it in writing.

It used to be that homebuyers had to pay off their past-due federal taxes to obtain financing. But no more, at least not when the mortgage is being purchased by Fannie Mae.

Under new rules from the government-sponsored company, which helps keep the money flowing to primary lenders, as long as you have an approved payment plan with the Internal Revenue Service, you can qualify for a home loan.

But realize that the monthly payments under the IRS plan will be counted as debt when your lender calculates your all-important debt-to-income ratio. Consequently, you may not be able to borrow as much as you would like.

TIP: Try to renegotiate your agreement with the IRS so you have smaller payments and a longer payoff period. It’s the monthly debt that counts against you, not how long you have to pay it, so this step should allow you to borrow more.

Alternatively, pay your entire tax debt off as soon as possible before entering the housing market. Unless you have the cash on hand right now, you may have to wait a while to buy, but it could be worth it.

As usual, there are rules that come with Fannie Mae’s new guidelines: First and foremost, a Notice of Federal Tax Lien cannot have been filed against you in the county in which the property is located. Also, at least one payment under the IRS agreement must have been made prior to closing. The lender must obtain extra documentation, including:

-- An approved IRS installment agreement with the terms of repayment, including the monthly payment and total amount due.

-- Proof the borrower is current on that contract. Acceptable evidence includes the most recent payment reminder from the IRS, reflecting the last payment amount and date received, and the next payment amount and due date.

You’re looking for a home and a mortgage to finance it, but you think that since the real estate implosion a decade ago, lenders are looking for a 20 percent down payment. You are resigned to the fact that you still have a lot of saving to do before you can come up with that kind of cash.

But in the words of the old song, it ain’t necessarily so. That down payment may be within your reach a lot sooner than you think.

The Urban Institute (UI) calls the down payment one of the three biggest barriers to homeownership -- the others being credit and affordability. But the bipartisan think tank also says a lot of would-be homebuyers have misconceptions about how much money they need upfront. There are still a bunch of options available for low- or even no-down-payment financing.

According to a recent UI report, “80 percent of consumers either are unaware of how much lenders require for a down payment or believe all lenders require a down payment above 5 percent. ... Fifteen percent believe lenders require a 20 percent down payment.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. UI’s Housing Finance Policy Center says the median loan-to-home-value ratio nationwide currently is 93 percent, meaning those average down payments are closer to 7 percent than to 20. If you’re a veteran, you can still get a zero-down-payment mortgage through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Another government mortgage, insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), sometimes calls for just 3.5 percent down.

The Washington-based UI has done the digging and the math on low- or zero-down-payment loans, and it reports that “there are 2,144 active programs across the country, and 1,295 agencies and housing finance agencies offering them at the local, state and national level.” Housing finance agencies are state institutions chartered to help low- and moderate-income borrowers and first-time buyers afford a house.

So, yes, you have a bunch of options. But since these programs are not standard and not all lenders use them, UI says it is wise to get counseling on the particular terms and determine which one is right for you. You should also remember that mortgages with less than 20 percent down still require mortgage insurance, either from the private sector or from Uncle Sam in the case of FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed mortgages. Mortgage insurance covers the lender in case a borrower defaults on the loan, but you pay for it, usually as part of your monthly payment.

Another aid is down payment assistance. Again, there are a lot of choices, depending on where you live.

“Assistance is available for many loan types, including conventional (private lender), FHA, VA, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans,” says UI. Eligible borrowers could qualify for assistance from $2,000 up to $30,000.

To locate the programs available in your neck of the woods, visit downpaymentresources.com, which lists more than 2,400 programs nationwide.

As to the second barrier, credit, UI notes that the average credit score needed to qualify for a mortgage has zoomed from 692, prior to the mortgage meltdown a decade ago, to 779 currently. (That’s on purchase-money mortgages, as opposed to refis.)

Median credit scores vary from state to state, though, so what works in one state may not be enough in another. Nevertheless, a low score may require credit counseling, and it may take a substantial amount of time to put your credit house in order. But it is necessary.

Affordability, the third potent barrier to homeownership, has been discussed endlessly by numerous experts. Industry analyst CoreLogic sees the current market as being at a tipping point.

CoreLogic’s latest report shows that half of the 50 largest metro regions are overvalued, meaning prices in those places are too high; 36 percent are at normal value; just 14 percent are undervalued. The top 100 metros look a little better, with only 37 percent overvalued, 37 percent at normal values and 26 percent undervalued.

Alarmingly, some of the same areas that were overvalued a decade ago, when the market went bust -- parts of Florida and “sand states” like Arizona, Nevada and California -- are in that category again.

The Urban Institute agrees, noting that one disadvantage with lower down payments is higher monthly mortgage payments. Of course, the bigger the sticker price on the house you want to buy, the more you’ll have to pay. And, as noted above, mortgage insurance will make your monthly payment even higher.

-- Freelance writer Mark Fogarty contributed to this report.