If you’re going to be a snowbird, or away for weeks or months at a time, then you should do things like have a security system installed that can alert you on your cellphone if there are problems. Install Blink cameras outside and inside the house to monitor the house better on your cellphone. Replace the dumb thermostats with a smart thermostats that can be controlled and monitored from the cellphone. Replace the dumb irrigation controller with a smart Orbit B-Hyve controller, so you can monitor and control the irrigation from your cellphone. The Orbit B-Hyve sprinkler controller knows about the weather too, so you’ll save money on water because the controller automatically rain delays, which pays for the controller. You can also change out the light controls with Lutron Caseta controls. Then you can make the house lived in from outside, since the lights can be programmed, controlled, and monitored with your cellphone. You can also add water sensors to the security system that could detect water leaking.
It’s also a good idea to hire a company to periodically check on your house. If you don’t have them periodically check on your house, then you could have the relationship set up with that company to check on your house with an “on demand” schedule, if and when you get an alert on your cellphone. Then you’d already have someone setup that could physically check your home, instead of having to scramble and find someone to set up your home at the last minute.
There’s a lot of things you can do to keep better track of what’s going on with you’re unoccupied home from a distance. If you can afford to be a snowbird, which costs more, then you can afford to properly set up your homes to be unoccupied for long time periods. Those things you do to prepare for your home being unoccupied will give you more peace of mind, instead of knowing nothing about your unoccupied home, and blindly hoping for the best.
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