Questions for folks who live here part time
 

We are keeping our home in Denver and have purchased a home in TV. I am wondering if any part timers can tell me how to manage two homes. I am wondering specifically about cable, internet, mail forwarding etc....Would appreciate any advice. Thank you.

1) no cable, get YouTube TV, you can use the log in in Denver and TV
2) internet, we have smart devices, so we don’t change the internet speed or cancel. Some providers do not require a contract, so you can make modifications monthly
3) get a home watch, just someone to walk through the house weekly.
4) get irrigation on a smart controller, so you can make adjustments from home
5) smart thermostat too.
6) add 2 or 3 cameras.

Good List by Pa.........We did part-time for a few years......additional thoughts...........

Mail: We just used the USPS forward mail. If you are down here for a week, jus hold Denver mail and have FL mail forwarded to Denver until you are here longer.

Irrigation: Our system has a rain sensor, so we never purchased a wifi irrigation system. Worked great for years being part-time.

Internet: We went with Spectrum. No contract. If you don't need it while in Denver, they have a "vacation mode" for $6 per month which keep it on for limited connection. Should investigate.

Cameras: Really good idea & cheap. We went with Wyze & not monthly fee.

Weekly house watch......piece of mind.

House shutdown....................be sure to have a list (there are threads on this site) on things to do when you are away for extended times.

DEWILSON made me think of mail.

When we are in FLA for an extended period, we use USPS premium forwarding

Premium Forwarding Services | USPS

They basically collect your mail for the week, and send it to you. There’s a weekly fee, but worth it to get all your mail on saturday.

A couple things.
We've had DirecTV sat since 1996 and like it. We just have it activated when we're heading to TV and paused here in Indiana.
As far as internet goes, we have T Mobile wireless so we just take our router with us.

I am a tech geek, so I also purchased:
1) wifi garage door opener (MyQ). Allows me to remotely open garage door from my phone to let people into the house, without giving garage code. I have used this feature a couple of times.
2) wifi leak detectors to alert of any water backups (I turn off water when not here). I did have a few drops get in the front door seal during hurricane and they alerted me. Opened garage door and neighbor checked and found a small amount of water.

Both are probably overkill...


Camera's allow you to check in and give you piece of mine. I don't use a home watch service.

When the time comes for us to move to TV, we have decided NOT to own two homes, instead we will own in TV and if we want to visit our prior state we will Airbnb or rent a place for a few weeks/months.

This will save you on insurance, local property taxes, transferring services, staying up late wondering if my home is being broken into or if the pipes are freezing in the winter (I’m from Maine), too many issues owning two homes. Plus, you can always sell your home and pocket the proceeds! Use that money to fund your travels…just a thought.

But, to each his own, just trying to offer an “outside the box” thought….enjoy!

Clinton from Freeport, ME

Comcast has vacation mode for internet. $29 a month, runs all of my cameras, and if you pop in for a week, Utube will work with occasional buffer. Unplug lamps (except for the one on timer, or Alexa,) TVs

Have a Smart thermostats.

Get a home watch, if something goes really wrong, they can be at you house in minutes (such as lighting hitting 3 doors down), and kills your WiFi, appliances, sprinkler system.

We vacationed, in ourTV home from “07” to 2012, so home only used 4 months a year. 2013-2017 snowbird during spring and late fall.
In 2018 until now we leave TV hot summer months

Not any problems that our home watch handled as good as we would, if not better

Comcast/Xfinity vacation mode is great and cheap for the time you are not here. But your cameras, smart thermostat, etc and anything wifi related won't work if you choose this option.

Turn off water to unoccupied home. Leave lawn sprinkler system on.

I suggest getting a Brother and Sister-in-Law to live in The Villages. Its a great service! :laugh:

Not true, there are two vacation modes. When you go into your account to vacation mode, it asks if you which one you want. Have been running 9 cameras, change my thermostat settings, home watch turns on lanai tv, and utube will bring up channels. Can’t stream but can see some programs, and he uses WiFi to email me reports. That’s $29 a month

Didn't know that. We do the $8/month deal. $29 is almost what we pay for our regular internet. Not much of a savings.

We thought we'd be snowbirds for a while but after one year we became full time Villagers. We hated the two house problems and the two house bills. Having an empty house 850 miles away was uncomfortable, too. Some of the responders sound very tech-intelligent and that helps enormously. It's been 6 months since we're here permanently and it feels like we made the right decision for us. Lots of admiration for the successful snowbirds, though.

The water detectors are great, but if you think turning off the water is good enough you are wrong. The water can also come from a broken float switch and a plugged drain line in your HVAC unit. Take my word for it, a cup of bleach every month in the drain line keeps it clean. Put at least one leak detector in the room closest to your furnace in case it overflows.

You can also sign up for informed delivery on USPS. You will get an email daily showing what is arriving in the mail that day. We do a temporary change of address when we go back and forth for months at a time. I think you can only forward mail for a certain period of time so that’s why we had to do temporary change of address.

Have vehicle both places. Put either on a float charger and suspend insurance on either every 6 months. Forward mail svc. Carry your stream svc with you. Suspend either isp, sonetimes for a fee (Verizon) sometimes no (Quantum). Turn off the water when you leave TV.

We have used a care taker for 12 years. They will check on things regularly, plus can meet service people at your house when you can't.
Empty Nest Coordinator

HPM-ENcaretakers@villageshpm.com

Hometown Property Management

340 Heald Way, Suite 200

The Villages, FL 32163

(352) 750-1595

#1 was not our experience. The service detects where your phone is and knows you are at a different address, you can “change your primary location” only once a year so if you go back and forth between states, YouTubeTV isn’t a good choice. We dropped it for that reason.

Our cameras and everything wifi still works while on Comcast Seasonal Hold.

I use Marsil to monitor the humidity (most important) and heat (less important) in my Fl house while I'm away. It is a unit that monitors these settings thru Verizon for a $12 month fee - paid only when I am gone. The unit cost about $275. I never let anyone check my home - not necessary and they can leave lights on - leave a toilet running - etc. Shut off water. Cover toilet bowl with plastic wrap. Cover or close drains. Set golf car and car up with Stabil and a Deltran tender plus to keep batteries charge. Close drapes. Turn refrigerator temp down a bit - fill with bottled water - be sure ice maker is off. I have a humidistat so I set that at the proper settings. A/C only runs to control humidity under 60%. Arrange lawn or weed care. Put Xfinity on seasonal charge $8 month. Unplug as many electrical lamps and appliances as possible. Lock door and go. When I come back it's like I just left every year for 13 years. Good luck. (I do pretty much the same thing up north when I'm gone but heat there is most important)

Yes, this USPS premium service is good if you want 100% of your mail sent to you.

The better option is to use the USPS informed delivery service... You will receive an email each day with the items that are coming to your front door..

That way you can have somebody forward only the items that you really need (eg a paper check)

Vacation mode- comcast
 

You can choose to l Ave wifi in with Comcast vacation mode- we do it for our cameras

Cameras with if you add Wi-Fi on seasonal plan.

I have had DTV also for 15 years. And for 15 years, I have to call them directly twicce a year, and suspend boxes, and activate boxes. It is frankly a hassle, as it[B] can't[ be be done in advance. And every year I have to threaten to cut off my service due to the new current prices. And yes, year they acquiesce and honor the old rate.
Do you have the same issues ?
Jaybee

We have wifi enabled lock on front door which we can allow temporary access as you can give an access code that you can shut off when you want. We also have a wifi enabled thermostat. It will e-mail me if there is an issue with humidity or if the unit is not able to maintain the set temperature. We got a warning about this and were able to send a technician to check it by unlocking the door. Had the whole HVAC system replaced by Broward and never had to come to the house. Also we put plastic wrap over the toilet and tape up all the drains......keeps bugs from getting in. Wifi enabled sprinkler system allows me to change the settings from my phone.

Put as many bills as possible on email rather then snail mail. I don't forward from my northern home to southern. My home watch person up north just collects the mail a couple times a week and sends down (or just opens and sends a photo) anything that looks important, but honestly its never really much after the bills are sent in email. I do forward via USPS website from south to north when I leave due to the postal center system in The Villages, but again I get maybe two pieces of mail all summer and they are never important.
We have flood detectors as part of our alarm system
Put documents in a fireproof box or safe deposit box
Have the mindset that everything will be just fine. If you worry it's not going to work for you.

I know that several people recommended using the US Mail forwarding service, and although this works great for "regular" mail, we found that the delivery delay was too long for most of our credit card bills and there are some mail (eg. banking, income tax, new credit cards, and magazines) that are not forwarded. So before we leave for The Villages, in addition to requesting Mail Forwarding, I go onto the each of the websites for those categories and update my PROFILE with the new Florida address. And then, before we leave again, I update it with the northern home address. That way, those items are mailed directly to the PROFILE address and there are no delays or delivery failures.

Hi there!
Casandra with Pike's Electric here :thumbup:
A few suggestions:
1. During the summer months/hurricane season, it is good to have a homewatch person. Whether it be a neighbor or a company who specializes, such as Empty Nest. This individual should stop by the home periodically and go in and make sure the electric is working and no breakers are tripped or non-functional due to surges. If anything is tripped, such as a breaker or GFI outlet, this person should be experienced in how to reset them OR have a great point of contact, hopefully us at Pike's Electric to help in times of need.
2. We offer a whole home surge protection unit, called the Eaton Ultra. If your home's panel allows, some restrictions apply, we can install this unit which will protect your home's major appliances such as the refrigerator, A/C, washer, dryer, range, etc. from surge damage. We suggest this to all Villages residents, full time or part time. Here's a link to read more about it on our website: https://pikeselectric.com/protection-from-power-surges/

Please give us a call if you have any questions. We are happy to assist! :thumbup:
- Casandra 352-748-6251

Great advice
 

I do all of these things too. Best deal is YouTube tv in both places.

QUOTE=Papa_lecki;2213307]1) no cable, get YouTube TV, you can use the log in in Denver and TV
2) internet, we have smart devices, so we don’t change the internet speed or cancel. Some providers do not require a contract, so you can make modifications monthly
3) get a home watch, just someone to walk through the house weekly.
4) get irrigation on a smart controller, so you can make adjustments from home
5) smart thermostat too.
6) add 2 or 3 cameras.[/QUOTE]

This is a good thread with lots of info. Having two places is very doable. We purchased in the Villages in 2021 and also have a condo/apartment in northern Illinois. The main challenge for us has been outdoor maintenance in the Villages. We have a reliable grass cutter. Lawn care fertilizing, insecticide application, etc is thru a local firm - Massey. However, we have been unable to find anyone to do more mundane jobs - like weeding the landscape beds and trimming bushes ( and boy, do they grow in the summer).

Our home came with an Ecobee wifi thermostat. Ecobee also offers cameras and other security devices. We have used their cameras and can control everything thru our cell phone. We also use Community Watch when we are away. It is a service offered by Villages where someone does a "walk-around" on the outside of your home 3 times a week to look for any damage or disturbance. Costs $5 per week.

We might add wifi control to our irrigation system but have not done so yet.

There are lots of options for mail, but you will need to plan your mail forwarding and holding carefully. One of the best suggestions above is to do as much of the important stuff as you can on-line, so that any mail delays or problems do not cause serious issues. Our mail now is almost entirely junk.

The point of having only a Villages home was mentioned above. We have decided to keep our condo in Illinois for a number of reasons: (1) we have lived there for years, we are in a very nice town, and it feels like "home"; (2) two of our children live near there; (3) our long-time family medical professionals are in that area: (4) in northern Illinois we have easy access and lots of choices to some of the very best specialty medical care when needed (and the likelihood is that you will need it sooner or later) -- we have come to believe that there are very few places in or near the Villages where we can get any comparable medical care (this is simply our opinion, others believe differently); (5) we like the change of scenery from time-to-time, and when we are in the Villages it feels like vacation (You will love it); (6) it is easy to leave our condo when we come to the Villages - lock the door and drive away.

Good luck. I am sure all will be good, and you will love the time you spend in the Villages.

Vacant home insurance
 

Watch out for vacant home insurance! We even had nearby family (within 10 miles) and they made us purchase it when we were here in FL. The cost was triple the normal insurance rates!:boom:

Why do you cover the toilet bowl with plastic wrap?

If you get Xfinity entertainment they have a convenience plan when your away only pay for wifi. If you go Xfinity Internet its much less expensive than the Entertainment package $80 a month, When you go streaming you can take your entertainment with you. I bought ROKU that gives you quite a bit of channels & entertainment and added Sling. Both can travel to any places you go and you pay once. as long as you have hi speed internet.

The plastic wrap keeps the water from evaporating and keeps critters out. I also put a cup of bleach in the water. I clean all of my drains - hot water, baking soda, hot vinegar and rinse with hot water — be sure the traps have water in them before we leave and plug all of them. Bugs and I understand frogs can come up through the drain pipes.

We were told when you leave for extended periods the bugs can come up thru the sewer and exit through the toilet........not sure but that is what we were told

Insulate windows
 

If you have a patio villa with the bedroom windows facing east, install 1 inch insulation boards with aluminum side facing out. No one will see them to know and they really reflect the heat. I do the guest bedroom about a week before I go and I can feel the difference in temps between the two.

Everyone does different things. We have added zero technology to the house and do not use anyone to check on the house. When leaving for the summer shut off water, shut off water heater, bring most things in from the yard (we leave the grill, griddle, fire pit and water fountain outside), bring hoses in, disconnect battles in the golf carts, add stabilizer to the gas, shut off the garage door opener, flip breakers for oven and microwave, unplug tv’s, cover toilets with plastic wrap, close all sink drains, set thermostat to 80 with heat set at 50 and humidity around 55%, we leave the fridge on and get rid of most food, sprinklers are set for 2 days a week as allowed by the Villages, we just cut the cord so we just have internet and that goes on vacation mode.

If we are leaving in the winter for a month or so the list is much shorter. Water, water heater and garage door are shut off, thermostat set at 80 and toilet and drains covered.

Have had good luck with doing this. We do have our landscaper and bug terminator come year round.

I think that covers what we do, good luck.

Honeywell make an excellent thermostat that you can control from anywhere. We also use B-Hyve irrigation controller that can be used from anywhere. Also recommend Simply Safe Alarm system. The best deal on internet is Cyberlink for about $30 month. You will need to keep your internet running year round. Just turn off your water and go!

I can’t tell you what the rules are now but when we lived there we owned a home in Ohio & there & found out in a hurry that we couldn’t use TV home as a rental when we went back to Ohio. TV home I would say treat it as if you always lived there. Because you’ll still have to pay utilities & keep yard mowed & most of all pay amenities!