Steps to take when leaving house vacant for summer
 

The season has changed, the climate has changed, we are still in Massachusetts and never got back to The Villages to close up for summer. When we left it was 65-70 degrees high temperature in February. Now it's heading toward 90s. The hot water tank is on, the fridge is on, the air conditioner is off, windows all closed. Is there something important that we should ask friends to do for us?

I would
Turn off the hot water.
Turn off the house water
turn on AC at 80 degrees to help with humidity
Assume food in Reg so I would leave it as is or ask to have it emptied and turned off with the doors open.
Bring in furniture etc. that could be a problem in a hurricane if you will not be back before the season starts.
This is an old topic so do a search on the site form more ideas.
Assume landscaping is being taken care of.

I watch over my snow bird neighbor's house. He turns off the water, turns off refrigerator and leaves the door open. They open the drawers in the dressers in their bedrooms and leave the closet doors open. Has the A/C set on 80. You want to leave the A/C on as it removes the humidity in the house. Once a month I turn on the water and flush the toilets and run the water in the showers and kitchen sink to replace the water in the P trap that evaporates. It will surprise you how much water will evaporate. I let him know if the landscape people neglect to mow his lawn.

We are in the same boat as you. We drove back to Massachusetts at the end of February with plans to return in April. We were supposed to be at The Villages now, but obviously had to cancel. We are supposed to get 5-8 inches of snow where we live up north tonight, urggggggggg. We also have plans to return to The Villages in mid May, but that is obviously very problematic. Fortunately, I always leave the AC set at 81 and turn off the hot water heater when we are not there, regardless of the season. But I can only imagine what the weeds look like in our gardens by now, and will have to toss almost everything in the fridge when we finally are able to get there. I also need to do the annual hurricane proofing of the yard, hook up the back up dehumidifiers, and water the indoor plants (unless they are all dead by the time I get there). I talked to my wife today about this and decided that if it is still not safe to fly by the end of May, an unscheduled road trip will be in order come early June. I hate to make this long round trip drive again so soon, especially if most of the amenities we enjoy at the Villages will still be closed, but all the things that need to be taken care of won’t take care of themselves.

Oh well, at least gas is cheap, so I got that going for me.

We left on February 23rd thinking we would be back in The Villages 2 to 3 weeks later, obviously has not happened. We bought our home last summer and I immediately began installing WiFi devices. Thermostat, 10 Ring cameras around the perimeter, security system, water shut off, new WiFI appliances, irrigation control, pool controls, door locks and garage openers. I can control all that remotely, gives me a real peace of mind.

It's a very small problem but one of the things that bother us most is the weeds we can see growing in the landscape beds. We are trying to find someone to take care of that now. Hopefully we are back in late May? We are at least safe and healthy.

Sorry to hear you're in the same fix. .And, Massachusetts is still 3rd on the US list of coronavirus cases after New York and NJ. We're in Newburyport and also woke up to wintery mix snow this morning. I posted the query on this forum because I recall having read something about leaving the A/C on to avoid excess humidity.
It's maddening not to be there ourselves to take care of things. I'd do all the things suggested here. Can only wait until planes fly and airports are safe again.

Weeds taken care of
 

at my last 2 homes which were villas with rock I had a guy named scot take care of the weeds and plants 3524613133

Thank you, I will try to call Scott. Really appreciate it.

Hi mvbird,
I second the recommendation on installing wifi devices especially on your thermostat. I know this doesn't help you at the moment but it has been a huge help with me managing my rental. Don't forget there are some very good "home watch" company's that can check on your place on a weekly basis for very reasonable fees and will give you peace of mind. Mine has been invaluable. They will flush toilets, run water in all sinks and showers to fill p-traps, run dishwasher and garbage disposals, check thermostat settings and insure hot water heater is off and then shut water back off. Dominic Berardi (berardishomewatch@gmail.com) 727/967-2125

I would also cover up any drains to like the one in the shower. You'd be surprised at what can crawl out of that shower if its not blocked.