Many people across the U.S. and abroad have what you would call seasonal homes. In fact there is a name for the people that escape the winter to warmer climates and that is the name “snow bird” because for example in the U.S the Canadians or those living in the northeast of the country will fly to a place like Florida on a seasonal basis until it warms up back home. They often times will buy a seasonal home instead of rent monthly. This is because these are normally older folks who will look to retire in the warmer climate so they want to make it an investment.
What Do I Need To Know Before I Leave?
This is a very pertinent question as there are things to tie up at home before one leaves for the place they will spend the season in their seasonal home. First, you will want to make sure your bills are paid and your electric is either on a saver-program or off. It is usually fine to have no power, as you will not grow mold due to humidity in the house if it is only going to snow right? Make sure your neighbors are on the lookout for the house in case there is a break in or a fire or some unfortunate act of nature that will affect the home and of course make sure they and a relative have your number and address of the seasonal home. Cancel your paper delivery as well as mail unless a neighbor will collect it for you. This curtails robbery and expense you don’t need.
What To Secure In Your Seasonal Home
When you leave your seasonal home and are on the way back to your main home make sure you take the same steps that were for your main house. In this case, though many seasonal homes are in the same area and people tend to leave without there being a neighbor present to watch. Some of these neighborhoods have an issue with squatters inhabiting the home. The best way to prevent that is to put storm shutters on the entire home, doors and windows to leave no point of entry for squatters and potential issues from vandals. Make sure you register your home with the local police so that if a patrol officer sees anything suspicious, he or she can handle it.
Cancel paper as we said before which is worth mentioning again because it is the number one way that vandals and robbers see that no one is home when there are all sorts of papers in the drive.
Make sure you reinforce the yard and custom sheds with a padlock on the inside of the fence to discourage use of your yard and pay a lawn care company you trust to maintain the lawn. If you like, you can always rent out your place by word of mouth or an agency that can keep watch over the property until you return.