How Do You Take Care of Your Vacant Home When Travelling?

[k0wtz]

all good ideas Byron!!!


bob

[Lee Senn]

Move to Twin Falls , Idaho. We retired here from New Mexico ( lots of crime there, virtually none here ) . We have traveled extensively for 10 years now , never a problem . I am not aware of any break ins in our entire subdivision in that time frame. Next door neighbor mows the lawn when we are gone and his wife provides care for our two cats ( we reciprocate by mowing their lawn when they travel ) . Wonderful little town , come on down ,we can use a good fellow fiberglass enthusiast . Lee and Norma

[David L. C.]

We live in an older neighborhood, entry level housing for the area, so our neighbors are less than desirable for the most part, we always hire a house sitter when we travel, works out fine, she watches the house and plays/exercises with the dog and feeds him daily, and it works for us.

[ssatkinson]

We invested in a couple of inexpensive security cameras, one for the front of the house/road, and the other indoors at a spot where anyone entering from any other door would be seen. Both are set up so we can get images on our phone as well as email alerts if one is triggered. So far our trespassers have been limited to turkeys, a fox, and deer, thankfully!
We also turn off the water, stove, hot water heater, water softener, etc.
A few lights are placed on timers. Mail is sent to a temporary address, and we signed up for USPS Informed Mail (free) so we know what is coming in daily. Our thermostat for HVAC is wifi so we can adjust for what we need depending on the season.
Do what you feel best works for your situation! There are several great options!

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by Civilguy

We hope to spend more time travelling in the near term, perhaps spending months at a time on the road before returning. I am interested in hearing how people address taking care of the sticks and bricks when they are gone for an extended period of time.

First we have an ADT monitored system that monitors motion, fire, heat, smoke, cold, doors, etc. We live in an area that gets cold so we wanted to make sure if the furnace quit it would alert someone. If someone breaks in the police can arrest them so squatters can't come in and take over. Without a monitoring system then the people could tell all kinds of stories. We shut the water off at our house shut off but not at the meter. We have one faucet that is freeze proof and can be used for watering in the summer between the meter and house. We have a friend that stops a couple times a week to water and check the house. Our garage is detached and it is monitored also. We shut off the power to the garage doors so no one can open them. We put 3 lights on timers. Two is on year around for us to come home to light when out at night and a 3rd one in the bathroom set to come on and off a few times at night as if we are home. We have motion lights and dusk to dawn lights on the property by doors, etc, We lock our gates. We stop our mail and have someone to pick it up every 30 days if we are gone longer. The PO will hold it for 30 days only but if picked up they will hold it much longer. We've been gone for 80 days and there was no problem at the PO. The idea of a house sitter is good but we did that a couple of times to come home to dirty stove, etc. You can't always trust the person and it is expensive. Usually at least $10 a day. ADT is about $33 a month. We have a relative that is completely safe to leave keys with that could make repairs or call the right person to fix the furnace, etc. We take the cat with us. After all it isn't fair to leave our baby home so we don't need someone coming in and out and leaving a door unlocked by accident.

[herons]

Originally Posted by Civilguy

We hope to spend more time travelling in the near term, perhaps spending months at a time on the road before returning. I am interested in hearing how people address taking care of the sticks and bricks when they are gone for an extended period of time.

I have neighbors keep an eye on the house. It's a small neighborhood and we've all lived these for 40 years. I also hire two neighborhood kids - one for inside chores (water the plants, check the water heater for leaks) - and one for outside chores (water plants, mow the lawn).

The system works well.

[patrick crawford]

another thing i failed to mention in my previous post is my local sheriff's department will put my house on an "away" status. a deputy comes by daily (or so) they do a walk around looking for broken windows or doors. should they spot anything the will investigate and advise me (they have my cell number). just another thing to make you feel better about leaving your "stuff" unattended. however, in the end, you have to just hope (and perhaps pray) that you're not on the baddies list. and yes, make sure the insurance is paid.

p@

[cmartin748]

A Nest thermostat and a cloud cam

[Ttocs M]

Housesitting is the way to go...If you don't have friends/relatives to come by or housesit, they might be able to recommend a good, reliable sitter or check with a real estate agency- some agencies keep a list of reliable, qualified sitters.

There's a wealth of information on the web about how to find a housesitter. Be sure to check references!

Some areas offer free police housechecks/drive-bys, as do some security companies.

I have a huge dog house, fenced yard that looks like there is a very big dog around - but my small dog is traveling with me.

Lights on a timer helps.

[Sid]

Great advice here!
About the only thing I can add is a small piece of advice from a work mate.....
If you do leave a your car parked outside take the garage door remote out of it. He learned the hard way that this is the modern day equivalent to leaving the key to the front door under the mat.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by cmartin748

A Nest thermostat and a cloud cam

Oh no. Not a Nest. Careful.

[John Linck]

If your postal carrier comes to your door get rid of your mailbox and add a mail slot to your house. I had one for years on a previous house and just cut a new one on my current house. Its more reliable than asking the post office to hold mail (the subs never get the memo). My slots were cut into the wall next to the door at about 40 inches high. That leaves a lot of room for mail to accumulate.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by M Scott

Housesitting is the way to go...If you don't have friends/relatives to come by or housesit, they might be able to recommend a good, reliable sitter or check with a real estate agency- some agencies keep a list of reliable, qualified sitters.

There's a wealth of information on the web about how to find a housesitter. Be sure to check references!

Some areas offer free police housechecks/drive-bys, as do some security companies.

I have a huge dog house, fenced yard that looks like there is a very big dog around - but my small dog is traveling with me.

Lights on a timer helps.

Bad thing with house sitters is they are expensive and you have no clue who their friends are.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by John Linck

If your postal carrier comes to your door get rid of your mailbox and add a mail slot to your house. I had one for years on a previous house and just cut a new one on my current house. Its more reliable than asking the post office to hold mail (the subs never get the memo). My slots were cut into the wall next to the door at about 40 inches high. That leaves a lot of room for mail to accumulate.

Love that idea but not sure ours will do that. I will be checking since we also like to take off for 2-4 days fishing sometimes and have to have our mail held. Of course small packages don't fit in a slot but they could hold them.

[TomK]

We use a mailbox with a large storage area in the base. When you'll be gone, pull the tray out of the top and your mail will fill the locking bottom compartment. It will hold a couple months worth of mail. https://www.amazon.com/Step2-531700-...osts+and+boxes

[Raspy]

Let me expand a bit on my previous post about the Nest thermostat and what I meant about being careful.

Nest thermostats are designed to be self programming with a schedule based on "seeing" activity in the various rooms of the house. It tries to achieve a room temperature at the time you walk by in the morning, for example. The company also monitors your gas use and can alert you if you have a big variation in gas use some month. Nest stores information about it's users that can be used later in various ways. If you are gone for extended periods, Nest will know it, or they will think there is a problem of some kind when you return.
With radiant heating, it causes lower comfort and higher bills because it's logic is not compatible with that form of heating, so you have to override it's internal programming and trick it into operating in a way that works.
Modern electronic zone controls on multi-zone heating systems are not compatible with the Nest. It has to charge its battery and it takes power from the system to do this (power sharing or power stealing). That power sharing is interpreted as a call for heat by some controls. This causes the heating system to go on and off, over and over when there is no call for heat
Too often people see the Nest and think it's very beautiful, which it is, but they don't understand the ramifications of using one. I recommend staying away from them unless you really understand how they work and like what you see. Relying on one to manage your home while you are away is not a good plan.

These things are not compatible with extended trips, or even with normal living in many cases. A simple setback thermostat at 1/6 the price, will give you perfectly good performance. If you want a wifi thermostat, there are many available that will allow you to turn your system on and off from anywhere you have cell service and you won't have a record of your activities being stored somewhere or the hope of a self programming thermostat trying to figure out what you are doing. By avoiding Nest, you will also, likely, have lower bills.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Sid

Great advice here!
About the only thing I can add is a small piece of advice from a work mate.....
If you do leave a your car parked outside take the garage door remote out of it. He learned the hard way that this is the modern day equivalent to leaving the key to the front door under the mat.

Not only that but many cars have built in garage door openers such as the Homelink system that are always on. So even if the car is off, if someone gains entry to the car parked in the driveway, they can open the garage door, go inside the garage and shut the door, and have all day to get into the house and have a field day. To deal with this problem, most garage door openers have a lock function that prevents remote controls from opening the door.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Sid

Great advice here!
About the only thing I can add is a small piece of advice from a work mate.....
If you do leave a your car parked outside take the garage door remote out of it. He learned the hard way that this is the modern day equivalent to leaving the key to the front door under the mat.

Absolutely true and I finally figured it out too. My Jeep sits outside all the time and my garage door button used to be right there on the visor.

[k0wtz]

you guys that understand the cloud and all that stuff my congratulations!!!!


bob

[Byron Kinnaman]

As for mail piling up again there's several options. Trusted neighbor to pick up your mail. USPS temporary forwarding service, Escapees, UPS Stores. All will work some more expensive than others. I use the USPS's temporary forwarding service to my daughter. Then I have her send it on when I know where I'm going to be for a while. Usually once or twice a trip.

Bills are all done electronically. Auto bill pay for recurring bills and calendar other bills, look up amount on line and pay with credit card. For those that worry about credit card build up, we pay the full credit card bill once a month so there's never in any credit card interest paid.

The talk of house sitter in my case is not the best idea. For one thing I reduce the winter heating costs and the water bill enough to a least pay camping fees, maybe even a bit more. With a house sitter I would be paying heating and water. (I heat with electricity).

That's what works for us. If think you'd like to travel for several months at a time you'll need to do some research. Look at many options and pick what works best for you. Also remember those options can be changed if they're not working properly.

Good luck and happy travels to all. Maybe our paths will cross some day.