[Cheapbas]

Originally Posted by kendi

And don’t forget to protect any plumbing that is on the outside walls. Insulate and/or leave cabinet doors open that holds the plumbing.

Yes to this, learned the hard way. Leave all cabinets with pipes open; kitchen sink, bathroom. Shut off water if you can, make sure your heating system doesn’t need a constant water supply, I think they are a closed loop.

[tszatko@rochester.rr.com]

Cameras and smart thermostat! We have a house on a lake in western NY. Turn off water and drain lines. Don’t risk frozen plumbing if something happens with the furnace. I learned the hard way and had to replace all plumbing one year. That won’t happen again!

[skippy05]

Sell the house in Vermont, you can afford the houses but not afford the stress.

[Causey]

Have owned a second home in Vermont over 20 years, deep in the woods. I have drained all the pipes, shut down the power by throwing the main breaker every year, never a problem. We had planned to keep the Vermont second home for another 10 years, after 1 year in TV we decided to sell it. Too many activities in TV we enjoy, got to Vermont and it seemed liked we were back at work, missed the TV lifestyle. Will continue to vacation in NE in the summers, but I don't need 20 acres in the woods any more. Time to move on.

[msilagy]

I have done this for 13 years - up north I have my home monitored by MarCell (I do not need to leave my internet on) MarCell is monitored thru Verizon (do not need a verizon acct either). You set the temp limit, I set at 45 and leave my thermostat on 55, If the furnace goes off I will be notified immediately as he temp will drop to 45 or under. I can go online and see MarCell readings at any time. At that point a heating co could service. Cost for MarCell service is $11 a month and you choose which months. I am gone 6 months - shut off main water line, open cabinets, cover toilet bowls with saran wrap and you are good to go. I use a MarCell unit in my Fl home to monitor humidity while I'm gone during summer months.

[Gsorace]

After a few years of doing the same, my wife suggested we sell our newly built "northern" home. She got tired of cleaning for days every spring. We used the proceeds to purchase a 2nd Villages home, right across the street! Good luck.

[Switter]

Originally Posted by VTrunner

My wife and I are looking to move to The Villages as soon as we find the home that meets our needs. We are planning to keep our current home for summer use, at least for a couple years.
While this is an exciting time, I am a little nervous about leaving the current home for 5-6 months over the winter months. We live in Vermont and have relatives that can look in on the house as well as having cameras etc. setup.
Leaving the house in TV I would engage a service to watch but I was curious if anyone had experiences they could share on leaving a home in the frozen north?
We've factored in the added expenses of a second home but it is more about any unknowns that could come up when leaving a home empty for six months?

Thanks for any tips anyone may have, good or bad.

Whatever you do, shut off your water at the main source. Open all your faucets too. It's the single most important thing.

[davephan]

Many good suggestions were made about having a security system, remote thermostats, and cameras. When you’re over 1,000 miles away for months, you need to be alerted if there are problems at a home where you are gone for many months.

The security system will not have frequent false alarms if it’s properly designed and installed. If you have no security system, one good solution can be found at the Alarm System Store online. There’s a DSC system that has two-way wireless, so you don’t have to fish wires through your house. The new wireless is a drastic improvement from the old wireless days.

Don’t use overpriced monitoring, like ADT. You can self monitor for about $140 a year, and/or monitor with a central station for another $140 a year. These are available from The Alarm System store.

Power outages can cause problems. A whole house automatic starting generator is the ultimate solution, but costs about $13K to $20K. UPS units are needed on some of the electric devices to keep them running between the loss of the utility power and when the generator starts running.

Ecobee makes an excellent remote thermostat, which you can monitor remotely and receive alerts if there are problems. Ecobee also has remote temperature sensors that you can place around your home.

A remote electrical power switch is important for your cable/DSL/fiber Internet and router boxes. The remote power switch automatically pings Google and other sites. If the Internet boxes fail to communicate, the remote power switch automatically cycles the power to reset the Internet boxes. This reduces or eliminates the need to have someone drive to your home to manually reset the Internet devices.

Some people use the remote power switches to reset their camera systems or other devices that need to be reset. There are electrical remote power outlets available on Amazon that can be controlled from your cellphone from anywhere.

There are Lutron Caseta electric switches and dimmers that can replace your switches and dimmers. The Lutron Caseta switches and dimmers can be remotely controlled from your cellphone to make your home appeared to be occupied. The Lutron Caseta switches and dimmer switches can be programmed to turn on lights at sunset and off at sunrise. The sunset and sunrise times are for your zip code, and follow the sunset and sunrise times perfectly throughout the year. Program the schedule one time, and you’re done.

Other things are needed too, like s snow removal service to make your home appear to be occupied. Water leakage sensors and low temperature sensors can be attached to the security system.

You can make the Internet service more reliable if you subscribe to different Internet providers. The different Internet providers are connected to a combiner box. If one Internet service goes down, the other Internet service still works.

You have to decide how much money you should throw at the problem. You could be very aware of what’s occurring at your unoccupied house, be completely unaware of potential problems, or somewhere in between.

2-Outlet Remote Power Switch - IP Power Switch, 276 Reviews

[Stu from NYC]

My goal as we got older is to simplify and not own what we can easily rent or borrow or go on vacation with.

So happy we have done this

[Escape Artist]

Originally Posted by VTrunner

My wife and I are looking to move to The Villages as soon as we find the home that meets our needs. We are planning to keep our current home for summer use, at least for a couple years.
While this is an exciting time, I am a little nervous about leaving the current home for 5-6 months over the winter months. We live in Vermont and have relatives that can look in on the house as well as having cameras etc. setup.
Leaving the house in TV I would engage a service to watch but I was curious if anyone had experiences they could share on leaving a home in the frozen north?
We've factored in the added expenses of a second home but it is more about any unknowns that could come up when leaving a home empty for six months?

Thanks for any tips anyone may have, good or bad.

Lucky you that you can afford to pay taxes on two homes! Vermont’s property taxes are going to increase, if that’s even possible, because the state is going to take over appraisals.

As for summers in NE, this past summer was horrific with catastrophic rain, below average temperatures, and many days of haze, smoke and poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires. The weather is too much of a crapshoot in general except you can count on long, cold winters that last 6 months (not to mention mud season!). Vermont is a very dysfunctional state and it’s getting worse by the day. I think you’ll find Florida more amenable in every way, especially financially/economically.

[alicevt]

We are snowbirds from Vergennes. All the comments about what to do are great. We use simplisafe with lots of sensors, keep the oil heat at 50, open doors under sinks, have a neighbor check once in a while, have driveway plowed, turn off wifi and dish network. Never had a problem in VT but had a leak in sprinklers in The Villages. The utility turned off outside water, we always turned off inside. We will fix the problem when we get there. Enjoy. Look for the green license plates in TV. We are always finding people who live in Vermont or love Vermont. The leaves are beautiful. This summer was awful, but usually love our VT summers and fall.

[rustyp]

Originally Posted by Escape Artist

Lucky you that you can afford to pay taxes on two homes! Vermont’s property taxes are going to increase, if that’s even possible, because the state is going to take over appraisals.

As for summers in NE, this past summer was horrific with catastrophic rain, below average temperatures, and many days of haze, smoke and poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires. The weather is too much of a crapshoot in general except you can count on long, cold winters that last 6 months (not to mention mud season!). Vermont is a very dysfunctional state and it’s getting worse by the day. I think you’ll find Florida more amenable in every way, especially financially/economically.

Therein is the secret. If you can't afford two homes it will be a nightmare. If you can afford two homes it will probably be the fulfillment of a lifetime of dreams.

[Laker14]

My goal, when working, was to snowbird. When the time came, I was unprepared for the stress I felt leaving my lake house unattended. I got used to it, but it it still is stressful. A lake house is different than a real house, I suppose.
What works for me may not work for you, but what I decided to do was drain the water, and turn off the heat. Probably not great for a house to get to sub-zero temps throughout, but at least my pipes won't burst. Also saves some $ in heating bills.

Even if you heat the home to a minimum of 50F, you might consider having the water drained. Turning off the water will prevent the water from running through burst pipes, but won't prevent the pipes from bursting, and then when you turn the water back on, you will have a mess on your hands.

There is some stress to the snowbird life, no question. But if you can deal with it, it's a great way to live.

Best of luck!

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by MX rider

We're in the same boat as you. We both just retired, 67 and 66. This will be our first snowbird winter. We kept our home in SW Indiana because my wife isn't ready to leave the grandkids. They're 7 and 9. She wants to wait a few years.

We did plan for this but It's not a longterm plan. I would sell our home here tomorrow if it was only up to me.
Fortunately she knows we can't do this for too long and is already talking about when we should sell. So for now we'll enjoy the best of both places.

Consider selling and rent for a few months when you go North. Try long term motels etc.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

Consider selling and rent for a few months when you go North. Try long term motels etc.

or airbnb