Question for Snowbirds

[Serina]

We’re thinking about going to warmer weather for a few months over the winter. I was wondering what snowbirds do about their primary homes being left unoccupied for a few months? (Especially if you don’t have family members in town to check on it.) Also, do you have mail forwarded or just do everything on line.

 

[rapmarks]

I have mail forwarded, I have a neighbor check house, I do pay almost everything on line or autopay. I have a car in each garage

 

[AnnaS]

My in-laws were snowbird for years - we did everything for them. My friend does it now and she has her son check on the house/her mail forwarded by a neighbor.

I would suggest having some sort of alarm system/cameras. Give your neighbor a key and have them check in at least once a week. Leave heat on. You can set lights on timers or today everything is on wi-fi/phone. Have mail forwarded or a neighbor mail you your mail every week/10 days for anything that you did not pre-pay, pay-online, autopay.

 

[x3 skier]

As a real snowbird (I go to the snow in Steamboat Springs Colorado in the ski season), my daughter collects the mail and sends important stuff once a week. I leave the heat set to 65, outdoor/indoor lights on a timer. My echo dot is set to play a radio station on a schedule. I unplug the garage door opener to prevent spurious opening.

No problems for over 20 years.

Cheers

 

[easyrider]

We need to be home at least one week each month for business purposes. In the winter months we like to leave for two to three weeks each month. When we leave the heat is turned down, the mail has been stopped, the newspaper is forwarded to charity, the alarms and cameras are functional, driveway is closed, dog is some where safe and auto lighting is set. Family members and neighbors watch our house.

More often the scenario is a family member is at our house watching our dog while we are gone.

One robbery in 20 years.

Bill

 

[WinniWoman]

We just left our brand new, empty home until we can move in permanently in a few weeks. We left the heat on 62. I am nervous that it will be -11 tonight into tomorrow night up there and maybe we should have left the heat up higher.

We drained the water and shut off the main water line. We poured some antifreeze into the toilet tanks and bowls. Had an alarm system Installed and asked our son to check on the house once per week. We also hired a guy to snow blow the driveway. We have no window coverings but we did plug in 2 night lights.

Although neighbors are close together the homes right next to ours are still under construction and we are located near a cross street so we can’t depend on neighbors seeing anything suspicious.

We are thinking of taking the long drive up this week to bring up a few things and maybe put up some window film I just bought on Amazon that looks like blinds. We will have to put the water back on- which makes me nervous also- and then drain it again. But once we get back to NY we will have just 2 weeks left until the final move there.

This all said, I never liked leaving our former home in the winter for more than a week and once we move to the new house I doubt we ever will leave it in winter either.

When we go away we always put the mail on hold. We have Informed Delivery so we can see on line via email what mail we are getting everyday. Most of our bills are on autopay or we pay online anyway.We don’t have internet in the new house yet.

BTW- For AMAZON Echo there is a recording called Guard dogs that you can have her play and several dogs bark continually. Very realistic.

 

[Brett]

When we go away we always put the mail on hold. We have Informed Delivery so we can see on line via email what mail we are getting everyday. Most of our bills are on autopay or we pay online anyway.We don’t have internet in the new house yet.

BTW- For AMAZON Echo there is a recording called Guard dogs that you can have her play and several dogs bark continually. Very realistic.

Amazon Echo "Guard Dogs" that respond to sound

 

[WinniWoman]

Amazon Echo "Guard Dogs" that respond to sound

LOL! I guess if the burglar starts off with saying with "Alexa- play guard dogs" Ha! Ha!

Seriously, you just leave it on with the dogs barking 24/7.

Or- how about this? With your ring video camera you see the burglar apporoaching your door and you use your Alexa app to say "Alexa- play guard dogs".

 

[bogey21]

I'm not tech savvy enough to understand this but I gather from my Son that he checks the views from all the cameras set up inside and outside his house while he is away on his Smart Phone. I think he also gets a beep when one of them is recording movement...

George

 

[moonstone]

We leave our home which is 2hrs north of Toronto and go to Belize for 3 mos each winter (we are here for our 5th winter). For the first 2 years our DD was still living at home so everything remained turned on. We just arranged for a local guy to snow blow the driveway since she couldn't maneuver our own snow blower. After she bought her own place a neibr and fellow firefighter buddy of DH's offered to check on our house since he walked his dog past it 2-3 times a day. We called our home insce company to find out what was required in the fine print of the policy that we might have missed. They said our policy states the home must me inspected by a responsible adult "reasonably often". Our friend/neibr comes right inside our house every day, listens for any weird noises (ie; running water), makes sure there are no broken windows or signs of forced entry, checks the inside temperature of the house and even opens our fridge & freezer to make sure they are still cold. We do not shut the water off but do turn the taps to the washing machine and water supply to our ensuite toilet off. We also shut off the water heater. We leave the furnace set to 16*C/61*F and leave all the bedroom and closet doors open for air circulation. So far (touch wood) we have not had any mould issues. A different firefighter buddy now snow plows our driveway and our neighbour across the street often parks his truck in our driveway to avoid shuffling it with his DW's car in his 1 lane driveway.

Our DD collects our mail (from a locked delivery box around the block from our house) every 2 weeks. She video chats with us from our house and shows us the mail, opening anything we think needs attention. All our utility and credit card bills are set up on automatic payments and we can do any other on-line banking from here if necessary.

Enjoy your winter away, it is so great to get out of the cold & snow!


~Diane

 

[Serina]

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

 

[Tacoma]

I know this is an old post but the most important thing to do is to find out what your home insurance says in your policy. If you do not disconnect the water it can actually say in your policy that your home needs to be checked every three days. It is a good idea to keep the log of when they come in on the fridge for proof. We had a friend whose pipe burst on the top floor while they were at their vacation property. The insurance company was waffling a bit but ended up paying. Apparently they can tell by the mold aproximately how long the water has been there. I know the renovation was around $200,000 US, $250,000 Canadian and they had to be housed elsewhere at the insurance company's expense for around 6 months.

 

[AnnaS]

I learned something else yesterday too. My neighbor has water sensor alarms - similar to the Ring house alarms. He has them on the floor down his basement. I guess one can put them anywhere (under sinks). It signals his phone. It's amazing what is out there today.

 

[MrockStar]

Luckily i have a well and the water pump is indoor in my basement at the cottage. Its always shut off when we leave so at most a small puddle if a pipe burst.

 

[artringwald]

I installed a wi-fi connected thermostat for about $100. It notifies me if the temp gets to low or too high. It also notifies me if the server can't get a response from the thermostat, like if power or the wi-fi goes down. My original Ring doorbell is inside the garage. I replaced it with a higher resolution Ring doorbell on the front door. We also unplug just about all the electronics, except of course, the wi-fi router.