In your Southern home, the air conditioner is constantly running, summer or winter. In the summer, cooling the air and in the winter, most units reverse themselves and remove the heat from outside and bring it inside. In each case the air is circulated through one or more filters.

I recently started managing a number of properties that, when the AC filter was inspected, looked like they were last changed or cleaned when Ronald Reagan was president! This has several major impacts that go unnoticed by the majority of homeowners:

1. your electric bill will be higher as the air conditioner struggles to cool or heat your home by forcing air through this clogged filter.
2. the AC unit will fail sooner because of the increased strain on the system and the fact that it has to run longer to cool the same amount of property
3. your lungs have become the substitute for the filter. If you look and see a completely clogged filter, this is what COULD  have ended up in your lungs. If you don’t replace the filter regularly, your lungs will have to do the job. Do you have anyone with breathing problems? Grandkids with allergies? These will only be worse with an obstructed filter in your air conditioner supply or return line.

So start checking the filter regularly. Most central air conditioning units have a unit in the closet or garage and the filter is located there. You can find the size of the filter on the existing one.Go to hardware store

If you have a professional home watch service, they should be checking at least monthly. A quarterly program which changes the filters automatically can really reduce the dust in your house and can make a significant impact on allergies and related problems.

Those alarms, sometimes seen on the TV, can actually offer a lot of protection. But let’s talk about alarm systems in general. Many homes have security systems installed during construction. These systems may be connected to a community service as part of your monthly association fee, may be connected to an individual company that monitors the system, or may be a standalone system that only alarms inside the house and does not call anyone. The first two are referred to as ‘monitored’ systems because a station employee is keeping track of its status.  The ‘un-monitored’ system is really nothing more than a last hope if someone breaks in. You hope the noise scares them away.

So a monitored system sends signals to a security station via two primary means: regular telephone lines or cell phone. One uses your phone line while the other has it’s own cell connection to the station. (No, there is no monthly cell-phone bill, it is a one time installation with no recurring payments for the cell.) The advantage of the cell phone connection is that burglars cannot cut the phone line to the house and disable the ‘calling’ function of the system.

Monitored systems have several advantages and a few limitations.

The first advantage is the ‘perimeter monitoring’ that ensures the ‘envelope’ of your home is not broken without an alarm. If a door or window opens and the alarm is set, someone will be notified. The monitoring company will call whoever you put on the their list. If they are unable to get a response, the monitoring company calls the police. if you have a smoke alarm wired through this same system, the monitoring company will call the fire department if you (or those on your list) cannot be contacted. Where a battery powered smoke alarm is only intended to get occupants out of the property, a monitored system can actually save you AND the property. A valuable consideration when the house is unoccupied.  While a house with just a battery powered smoke detector may burn for quite some time before an outsider notices, the fire department has already been called if a monitoring comp0any is involved.

The limitations of a monitored system do not remove the overall benefit. You just need to recognize what they are. For example:

-without a home watch service, there may not be anyone to respond when the alarm sounds. The monitoring service will try to call you but chances are you are thousands of miles away. If you have your neighbors on the list, you can only hope they are available and nearby. Remember: hope is not a plan.

-any alarm system only protects the perimeter and certain other threats. It cannot detect mold, roof or plumbing leaks, insects, noxious odors, refrigerator and freezer operation, power failure impacts, etc, etc. You need someone to periodically go into the property to survey all the systems and evaluate the safety and security of the premises.

-the monitoring company does not physically respond. You may have seen security vehicles while driving in town. they are hired by commercial companies for after-hours work. They only respond to residential if you have hired them to do so- and this is expensive and rare.

-Local authorities have put fees in pace when they are repeatedly called out for false alarms. A good Security Service should step up and immediately fix a problem when this happens. But if you are out of town, you may be between a rock and a hard place.

Home Security Systems can help with peace of mind when you are gone for the season as long as you know their limitations. One added benefit is that your home owner’s insurance may have a credit for a ‘monitored’ alarm system. Give them a call to see.

In the hurry caused by inward hatred for the change, lots of issues are formed that can bite you later. Did you turn off the water? Clothes washer? Unplug all the small appliances? Computers? Lock all the doors? Windows, too? What about the electric garage door? Did you unplug those timers that you don’t want coming on (water heater, recirculation pump, for instance) and plug in those that you want working- lamps, pool and sprinklers, etc?

There are two ways to accommodate these problems- well three actually. The three are:

Option 1: You can always impose on the neighbors. Call them up in a panic and have them check the potential problems. Then two days later, call them up and ask them to mail your reading glasses. Then the next day apologize and ask them to send your prescription that you forgot. And a week later, call again, and ask them to make another trip to the store for envelopes and a trip to the post office for that checkbook you left behind. They don’t have anything better to do, right?

Option 2:  Make a checklist and then follow that checklist (the hard part). It needs to be fluid, where you can add and remove items at will. Some of my favorite websites for that include: printablechecklist.org and tadalist.com. Both are free,

(I always found those non-specific sites require you to start from scratch. So, with input from my clientele, made up a huge ‘master’ checklist that allows users to only pick the topics they believe are important. Then my website automatically sends a personal checklist of just the items checked. You can try it out for free at www.thehomewatchguy.com/checklist.)

Option 3: You can hire a professional service to maintain your home. They will be more than happy to help both before and after you leave. Forwarding items you forgot is no imposition for them- call as often as you like. Sure, you will pay for postage and their time, but you will never hear an exasperated ‘so what did you forget now’ nor will you wait for weeks because your items never really got mailed. Plus a professional service will do many of the item on your list so you don’t have to!

A professional service should make the transition much easier when you move. They should have checklists for accomplishing items that you would forget. My personal clients know that my view is simple “Just pack what you need, we’ll do everything else.” This makes their move simple. And it seems to improve the marital relationship when the guy doesn’t get grumpy and the woman doesn’t have to remember everything for both of them! Wow, imagine a FUN transition for a change- wouldn’t that be different…

Maybe I should offer marriage counseling for snowbirds!

Myth: I have cameras so don’t need anyone looking after the house. This is a huge misconception among the tech savvy. Installing cameras has some positive points that should not be ignored. But what is the purpose? If it is security, you need to have someone watching the cameras all the time. Sure, you can go back and find where someone broke in to the house on your recorded data, but that does nothing to contact the authorities, etc. If the purpose is to ensure the safety of the house, you have the same problem. A fire that is recorded is cute but ineffective. Will you be able to see mold grow? Will you be able to see broken windows? Mildew in closets? A slow leak that is creeping through the living room carpet? A failed appliance? Videos are neat but can only assist in monitoring an empty home, they are not the answer.

Myth: We’ve never had a problem just closing it up for the season. This myth requires more investigation but comes out totally false. When you actually inquire of homeowners who have left their property completely unattended, they will tell you a fire has never burned down their house nor have thieves broken in. But when you ask about air conditioning failures, bug infestations, bad odors when toilets dried up, and similar examples, the stories will start to flow. The reason they believe they have never had problems is that they assume all these issues that come out are actually just part of owning a seasonal home. If it’s normal to them, it is not a problem. But it doesn’t have to be like that.

Myth: My house cleaner looks after the property. This myth has several parts. First, most house cleaners do not own their own home. So they probably do not have the experience to manage yours. They have no method of recording what they look at, they just walk around and look for fires and floods. How often can you document their efforts in your home? Who will you call when the house cleaner is out of town? They all take well-deserved vacations, whether for a few days over a holiday to a couple weeks with the kids. How will they take care of your property when a disaster strikes knowing their home will take first priority? And finally, what is their motivation? Do they agree because they are afraid you will drop their service if they don’t agree? Not the best motivation for someone to manage a property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And of course, they have no insurance…

There are many myths about leaving a property for the season. This is just the shortest of lists. What myths have you uncovered?

Not all losses will be total. Your insurance has various levels of coverage. If the house is completely obliterated, there is little need for a home inventory. You will be reimbursed the full amount of your coverage. No documentation needed. This total loss is the exception, though. Usually the losses are much smaller. Now is when your home inventory shines.

A Home Inventory is a complete listing of every article in your home, the date it was purchased, it’s value, and other documentation such as receipts, valuations, proof of signatures (in the case of artwork) etc. Anything that can assure the insurance company of the value of the lost objects. Pictures alone won’t cut it. If you don’t have a list, they will require you to submit one- they will not interpret pictures.

You have choices for your inventory. You can take a few pictures and falsely assume you are done. Then, in the midst of the the crisis, you can search each picture and try to document each item that was lost and it’s value. If the insurance company disagrees (“We think that is an $80 print that was lost, not an actual $1600 original piece of signed art”), you can spend hours and hours of research and lawyers trying to make your case. On the other hand, had you done a proper inventory once, you would be covered. While your family is shaken from the intrusiveness of a burglary is not the time to try and sit down to write out lists. You are bound to forget items, underestimate their value, and essentially short change yourself.

Home Inventories can be a do-it-yourself project. You can take a weekend to do it right.There are many computer program available to help with the record keeping. A good camera, light box, and two people can accomplish a home inventory in a couple days.

Or you can hire a professional to do the home inventory for you. A full documented inventory, where you get the results in a digital format, should run $400-$800 depending on the size of the house and the contents. Large collections, lots of jewelry,  and antiques will naturally increase the time requirements and cost. A professional should be in and out of the house in about 4-6 hours, bring in all the needed equipment,  and will return a completed digital inventory with a week. In addition to the time saved, you also get the ability to stand aside and ensure everything is properly documented instead of being up to your eyeballs trying to do it yourself.

No matter which choice you select, this is generally a ‘once-in your life’ necessity. You can always add and remove significant items on a yearly basis. But once it is done, you are pretty much set for many years. And the biggest advantage? Insurance industry studies have shown that those ho have a home inventory get, on average 20% MORE in their claim than those who don’t. That means it could easily pay for itself in a single claim. Ask your professional home watch service if they offer either a DIY kit or a professional home inventory plan. This is an essential part of being a seasonal homeowner!

Although the person with the less expensive home appreciates the snowbird experience just as much as the high end, both just consider it ‘just a house’ when they start looking to have it maintained properly. In reality, it is an investment they have made. Whether in life style, actual real estate investment, or the equivalent of a retirement fund, the investment is more valuable than many of their other assets. But they see it as a basic hotel room. How do I know? Simple, look to see who they have used to watch or manage it and how they believe they should choose a home watch service.

Anyone who uses a maid to watch a $250,000 investment fails to understand the potential losses as well as the actual value of the investment. Because the owners live there, they assume there is no knowledge or experience required. I don’t want to harp about this too much because it is covered in other blog posts, but maids, cleaners, petsitters, friends and neighbors, are not the way you manage a huge investment. Would you turn a portfolio of stocks and bonds over to one of these for six months? So why do people do it? Simple ignorance of the systems and ongoing maintenance needs of a home.

So when they start looking for a professional, usually because they had a problem that really burned them, they want someone cheap.  The maid was cheap, why shouldn’t a home watch service be? In my book, “Leaving Your Home-ALONE”, I specifically list price as the last item to consider. Do you shop for the financial guy for your $250,000 portfolio by price? Doctors? There is only one reason to shop by price when choosing a home watch service- you believe there is no difference in services ie it is just a commodity that can be done by anyone.

If instead, you do some research and determine the differences, you will see that the value of a great service far outweighs any additional cost. I chuckled recently when a small homeowner invited me over and had me discuss what my business offered. When we reviewed the entire package, explained what made us unique, and noted the unique bonuses that we offered during the current sign-up season, he was very interested. But at some point, his wife convinced him that they only wanted to pay X dollars per visit and my monthly rate was higher. Some simple math showed that their rate-per-visit scheme was actually more expensive over their 7 month holiday than my service (because we offer unlimited free post storm visits) and fell well below the added benefits, proven reliability, etc. Sadly, they were so hung up on this ‘cost per visit’ that they left an opportunity behind to have their problems solved.

Are you searching for a home watch service with a pay-per-visit mentality? I beg you to look at your home differently, to recognize it’s value, and the loss of time and money that would accompany any problem. Price is certainly worth considering. Consider this: If your financial advisor approached you and offered to  manage your portfolio for less than .001 of it’s value each month, would you do it? Most would jump at it! And a professional home watch service costs a whole lot less than that.

Most snowbirds I speak with have no understanding that their insurance changes after the house has been unoccupied for more than 30 days. They pay the same rates and assume everything stays the same. Most are shocked when they are prodded into calling their company or agent and verifying, in writing, that their coverage remains the same. It doesn’t.

Unless you have notified your insurance company, in writing, that your property is going to be unoccupied or vacant (there is a huge difference sometimes), you will no longer have coverage for water leaks, broken glass, or vandalism. So the broken window from the golf ball, stone kicked up in the hurricane, or leaking pipe in the slab (unbelievably common) will not be reimbursed if you try to make a claim. And you may have your insurance canceled when the company finds you left the house for more than 30 days without telling them.

Why do they do this? Very simply- risk. You are paying them to assume the risk of damage to your home. That’s really all insurance is, whether car, boat, airplane, home or life. You are paying them to assume the risk of you dying early, wrecking your car, having damage to the house, etc. Instead of you assuming all the monetary risk of loss, they accept that risk of loss and charge you a fee call ‘premiums’. When the house is empty, their risk of loss goes up because there is no one in the home. Empty or unoccupied homes have a greater risk that no one will find a leak for weeks or months, or that vandalism or broken windows will lead to bigger problems that go unnoticed (see my blog post on Horror Stories). The cost of water leaks is substantially higher when a home is vacant or unoccupied because there is no one there to see it before it becomes a huge wet, moldy science project.

Think you will find cheaper insurance somewhere else? Florida’s largest private property insurer, State Farm, just asked for a 28% rate hike. This follows a 28% rate hike in 2009 and 6.6% in 2010. How fast do you think they would cancel your insurance if they find out the house is empty for more than 30 days?

You can buy additional insurance, or ‘vacant property coverage’, from most insurers. It will cost a small fortune but is actually available. Once you get a quote, contact a professional home watch service and see which costs more.

The only way to stop this coverage reduction is with a professionally licensed and insured service to watch your home. Your friends and neighbors, maids and petsitters won’t satisfy the requirement if you ever have a claim. Ask your private home management specialist for a statement of ‘due diligence’, which declares that you have protected your property by hiring their professional service. Insurance Companies recognize professional property management and will waive their loss of coverage.

Do you have a story of lost insurance where you were shocked to find out you weren’t covered? Do tell…

Mark

I routinely get the ‘Doesn’t the  real estate agent watch my house when it’s for sale?’ question from people whose property is on the market but they are living elsewhere. They assume that there is no need for a professional home watch because the sales agent will take care of the property. This reasoning is flawed for several reason:

1. If you want your sales person to ‘watch’ the house, when do you want them devoted to SELLING the house? When you contract with an agent to sell your property, you are asking a professionally licensed and trained expert to perform his or her magic and sell the home quickly. Think of your home as a valuable portfolio. You wouldn’t expect your financial adviser to also manage your checking account, would you? Of course not, you are wasting your money and they would be wasting valuable time. Same thing applies with the real estate folks- don’t waste their time that is better spent on selling your property. Selling does not mean sitting in the property, checking all the appliances, ensuring the humidity is correctly managed, and all the other items that are part of a professional private home management service. Let agents sell your property and get a professional to watch it.

2. Sales agents are not going to be inside your For Sale property unless they have a showing or there is a problem. Their excellent training is in selling properties, not in watching them. They may be very good at moving a home in a slow market like this one, but they are not trained at all in managing an unoccupied or vacant home. Have you heard the phrase “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight”? It is the principle that you had better be ready with the proper weapons if you want to fight. If you want to fight the issues of insurance cancellations, water leaks, and other problems of an empty For Sale home, use a professional hired gun who knows exactly what to look for- a home watch service. Real estate sales agents are uniquely suited to SELL homes, don’t be confused thinking they are also qualified to watch them.

3. Every minute that a sales agent spends watching your property is time wasted in selling it. Which do you want done- selling, watching or both? If you want both, hire the specialist that will watch it while the specialist in selling does their job. If you expect your sales agent to do anything but market the property, selling is not your primary goal.

4. Most problems in your home are discovered by real estate sales agents when they are showing the property- bad news. The prospective buyer gets the same shock as the agent. Whether the smell of sewer gas (yuck), a water leak, air conditioner failure, appliances that are frozen from lack of use, it will instantly have an effect on the people viewing your home. They may be so turned off immediately that nothing will convince them to give your property a second look.

5. You may be the one discovering the problem from your other home. You open your mail and find a huge water bill. You call and the search begins. Sure, they will find the leak, but guess who pays the water bill anyway! (That bill alone could easily pay for the home watch service that would have found the leak sooner.)

The cost of a trustworthy and reliable home watch service will pay for itself with a home that sells faster and for a higher price. Isn’t that what you want?

Maids, petsitters, and neighbors all have different motivations for watching your beautiful home. Remember that we are talking about a property that is usually worth a lot more than a couple hundred THOUSAND dollars. Maids and petsitters are motivated by fear. They are afraid that if they say “no”, they will lose you as a customer for the real business they are in- cleaning houses and petsitting. So even though they really don’t have a clue what they are looking for, their fear that another maid or petsitter will take their place forces them into a difficult position. (Most maids and pet sitters don’t even OWN a house, so how would they know how to manage one?) They hope nothing happens but are not prepared to handle empty home issues, should they arise. Their fear will back them into the corner to say ‘Yes’. Meanwhile, you will sit and wait for that heart rending call that starts, “I don’t know what happened, but…”

Neighbors, friends, and relatives have a different motivation. They don’t want to say no because they may owe you a favor, may want you to owe them a favor in the future, or are merely trying to ‘not rock the boat’ to continue the friendship. Again, not the best motivation. Do they really know what can assault an empty home? Will they do scheduled visits with a huge checklist that looks at every system in the house? Probably not. My personal research shows that most of the time, neighbors, friends and relatives will only visit once every 6-7 weeks. They are not motivated. And when something happens, and you get the gut-wrenching call that “You won’t believe what happened…”, your friends are embarrassed, you are angry, and the bills will bring up that bad taste for months. It has ruined a great relationship and will always lurk under the surface whenever you meet.

A professional home watch service is motivated to fulfill your need for competent, reliable and trustworthy service because, simply: This is HIS or HER BUSINESS. Their expertise surrounds knowledge of homes and their systems. They eat, drink and breathe homes and systems and know what to look for when they visit. They carry checklists, they have planned scheduled visits, and they communicate often. They have a plan if something goes wrong. (If you need a great list of what to look for in a home watch service , consider buying my book “Leaving Your Home -ALONE” ) And they are licensed and insured, meaning someone else has looked at their business and agreed to assume the risk- something none of the alternative choices can say.

You may want to let the maid, petsitter, friends, relatives and neighbors manage your retirement portfolio when you are gone for six months, but smart people realize the risk of that philosophy. So why is your home, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, any different?

Although our main business is in Florida, the book “Leaving Your Home-ALONE”, can you with a home anywhere. Ok, shameless plug over. But it could easily save you thousands of dollars. Just listen to one of our clients.

The problems with an empty home in Florida are mostly weather related, just as they are for those sad structures in the way of this storm. While freezing rain, high winds, frozen pipes, heater and electricity failures, and broken windows assault these homes, the summer heat and loss of air conditioning (causing mold), hurricanes, water leaks, and similar problems plague Florida empty homes in the summer months, and for that matter, year around. Perhaps worse, though, is that insurance Companies are pulling out of the Florida market, raising rates (State Farm just applied for ANOTHER 28% increase), and more than willing to cancel your Florida Home Owner’s Insurance when they find the house has been empty for more than 30 days.(Yikes!)

So while we are sitting enjoying the warm weather, keep in mind that there are many of your neighbors that may be sweating out the valuable property they own in the path of this massive storm. If they have a trustworthy and reliable home watch service, they are probably completely relaxed. But if not, they may be seeing the treasure they have enjoyed for years suffer irreparable damage. So go easy on them, for a lot of people don’t realize that an empty house will eventually cost them huge money. They have been gambling for years that nothing will go wrong. And maybe it hasn’t. So don’t make fun of them when they become ‘the biggest loser’.

Do you have an empty home in the path of this little blow? What are you doing to protect it? Let me know, I am always looking for new ideas!!

Mark