[asianthree]

Originally Posted by Waterfront

As soon as we can sell our home, we will be back. Dean's is one we are looking at and Cunningham's also. It is a huge change in lifestyle, but not the first one, in some ways TV reminds me of a place we lived overseas, a foreigners compound. It was like a mini 55+community for all ages.

Til u get back, who is checking on your home when sellers vacate. If not your rep, you need to meet with home watch ASAP, so they are up to speed on what the house should look like when sellers leave. Home watch is key, they will give you a weekly update, and photos.

Start with deans, large company that will not run out on you. You can have the guys who go to work at your home text or email you what is done, I have the cell of everyone who comes to my house from deans. I hear from them even if there is not a problem.
Once you get your house sold you can always shop around. Neighbors are great, but stick with professionals until you can be here.
Let community watch know you are not here and supply one or two phone numbers. They gave us a call that we had an issue at our home, so we could alert our home watch immediately.

[BK001]

Originally Posted by Waterfront

I am renting the home back to the seller for a month so I can't have a party. I would love to do that! They don't hire for any services, they do their own thing.

Are you sure? If you pay for the food and beverages and offer to clean up, they may be very happy to have a combo "welcome to you" and "goodbye from them" driveway party. I know I would. Plus, they can help you with the invites since they probably know all the names, etc. You won't know if you don't ask. Just a thought.

[Waterfront]

Thanks for all the good advice. Taking notes

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Here are some of the things we used to do before leaving our home when we were snowbirds.

Leave the air on 83.
Turn off water to the house.
Detach and remove hoses.
Leave dishwasher open.
Freeze a paper cup full of water in freezer and leave a coin on top, so that you can see if there had been a power interruption.
Remove all food. We forgot potatoes once. Yipes.
Tell a trusted neighbor you are going and when you will be returning. We left keys.
Leave a ceiling light on in interior hallway.
Contact Village Watch and tell them you will be gone.
Stop Paper and mail.
Ask neighbor to remove news items left in driveway from POA.
Leave a pair of old sandals by front door. Pull blinds and curtains closed.

The Cunninghams Home watch service is excellent...
...but there are others that are great too.

We have been here and owned two homes here for ten years. It is a wise decision you have just made. No I don't sell houses, never did.

Jump in here friends, what have I forgotten?

Good advice Gracie, I would add the following to your list.

Put away anything outside (or in Birdcage) that can become a projectile during a hurricane.
Turn off the water heater (we have electric and turn off the breaker in the electric panel).
If you have a gas golf cart, put a trickle charger on the battery and leave the tank full of ethanol free gas.
Put a de-humidifier or two on 60% humidity setting with a hose draining into either a sink or bath/shower. If the A/C in your home fails, this will prevent mold damage. If the A/C is working, the humidity in your home should be below 60% and the de-humidifiers will not run. This is cheap insurance.
Weed the garden and fertilize as necessary.
Make sure the irrigation system timer is properly set.
Put down some sticky bug traps so you can see what kind of bugs, if any, have been in your house when you return.
Replace your HVAC filter.
Clean your grill and make sure the gas is off.
And leave some beer/wine/bottled water in the fridge for when you return.

I am sure there is more that I have forgot to list.

[Waterfront]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Good advice Gracie, I would add the following to your list.

Put away anything outside (or in Birdcage) that can become a projectile during a hurricane.
Turn off the water heater (we have electric and turn off the breaker in the electric panel).
If you have a gas golf cart, put a trickle charger on the battery and leave the tank full of ethanol free gas.
Put a de-humidifier or two on 60% humidity setting with a hose draining into either a sink or bath/shower. If the A/C in your home fails, this will prevent mold damage. If the A/C is working, the humidity in your home should be below 60% and the de-humidifiers will not run. This is cheap insurance.
Weed the garden and fertilize as necessary.
Make sure the irrigation system timer is properly set.
Put down some sticky bug traps so you can see what kind of bugs, if any, have been in your house when you return.
Replace your HVAC filter.
Clean your grill and make sure the gas is off.
And leave some beer/wine/bottled water in the fridge for when you return.

I am sure there is more that I have forgot to list.

Great advice, thanks

[John_W]

Originally Posted by Waterfront

Maybe is the service provider were I am staying, but this website keeps crashing on me. Other websites are very slow, but this one is very frustrating, it crashes every couple of minutes. Any settings I need to fix? I also can't see the tutorial videos.

You don't give us much info. Who is your service provider? I've never had Talk of the Villages website crash in the 7+ years of browsing. I have Century Link for internet since July 2011 and my service has only been out once, and that was due to a lightning strike and it was fixed within 2 hours.

I use Google Chrome as a browser, I use to use Firefox, which is good but I found Chrome a little better. Three years ago my laptop computer died. After I bought a new computer it had Internet Explorer as a browser. I immediately installed Google Chrome again and all 500 of my bookmarks immediately appeared, they were saved in a cloud.

[Barefoot]

We are seasonal residents and are gone for long periods of time.
We've used Falcon Lawn Care for three years because they offer one-stop shopping.
They spray for weeds, cut our lawn, trim our shrubs, weed our beds, etc. We like them.
We've used Villages Watchdogs for eleven years for home care. Obviously we like them also.

[Waterfront]

Originally Posted by John_W

You don't give us much info. Who is your service provider? I've never had Talk of the Villages website crash in the 7+ years of browsing. I have Century Link for internet since July 2011 and my service has only been out once, and that was due to a lightning strike and it was fixed within 2 hours.

I use Google Chrome as a browser, I use to use Firefox, which is good but I found Chrome a little better. Three years ago my laptop computer died. After I bought a new computer it had Internet Explorer as a browser. I immediately installed Google Chrome again and all 500 of my bookmarks immediately appeared, they were saved in a cloud.

We are renting. I have windows 10 and the internet here is xfinity I think, this website flickers and crashes. FB is slow but it doesn't crash. Everything else is just slow. Thanks, No big deal we are leaving in a week. When we get our own home, we will get comcast as I was told at the computer club they are the best. Thanks again for your help.

[Waterfront]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

We are seasonal residents and are gone for long periods of time.
We've used Falcon Lawn Care for three years because they offer one-stop shopping.
They spray for weeds, cut our lawn, trim our shrubs, weed our beds, etc. We like them.
We've used Villages Watchdogs for eleven years for home care. Obviously we like them also.

Thanks

[JoMar]

You are talking internet access settings? Who is your provider and what browser are you using.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by Waterfront

We are renting. I have windows 10 and the internet here is xfinity I think, this website flickers and crashes. FB is slow but it doesn't crash. Everything else is just slow. Thanks, No big deal we are leaving in a week. When we get our own home, we will get comcast as I was told at the computer club they are the best. Thanks again for your help.

Something you need to know, Comcast has the #1 worse customer service in America and Xfinity is the name of their internet service, they are one in the same. They changed the name to fool people, see it worked. Windows 10 is your operating system, the majority of users now have that system and it's probably not the problem. Sounds like the browser and maybe some issues with that. I recommended going with Google Chrome, if you never changed your original setting, you probably have Internet Explorer, I think that's the least used nowadays. That could be your problem.

[B-flat]

To the original poster, thanks for asking a question(s) I needed those answers too. We just purchased a CYV here and will be leaving for our home state and will be back later this year, all this info I’ve found very helpful. Thank you.

Now my 2 cents on Windows and I know this is not what’s the OP asked. I worked in the Windows world as IT director for a law firm in the Boston area. When I retired I used an iMac, along with an iPad and iPhone. I’ve no problems since doing so. I’m not trying to sell Apple products but for a lower cost alternative Chromebooks are a great alternative. Chrome books work entirely thru the Chrome web browser are relatively inexpensive. I bought a nice Acer Chromebook for $250, it looks like a MacBook Air. Best part it boots up in about 15 seconds, there’s never a problem with viruses either. If the Chromebook starts running slow there’s a utility built in called Powerwash. Run that utility and the Chromebook is restored to out of the box condition.

[Waterfront]

Originally Posted by B-flat

To the original poster, thanks for asking a question(s) I needed those answers too. We just purchased a CYV here and will be leaving for our home state and will be back later this year, all this info I’ve found very helpful. Thank you.

Now my 2 cents on Windows and I know this is not what’s the OP asked. I worked in the Windows world as IT director for a law firm in the Boston area. When I retired I used an iMac, along with an iPad and iPhone. I’ve no problems since doing so. I’m not trying to sell Apple products but for a lower cost alternative Chromebooks are a great alternative. Chrome books work entirely thru the Chrome web browser are relatively inexpensive. I bought a nice Acer Chromebook for $250, it looks like a MacBook Air. Best part it boots up in about 15 seconds, there’s never a problem with viruses either. If the Chromebook starts running slow there’s a utility built in called Powerwash. Run that utility and the Chromebook is restored to out of the box condition.

Next time I need a laptop I am going to go with apple. I love my iPhone. That way I can sync everything.

It is a bit concerning buying a home and leaving it for a long time. At least mine will be empty. I am keeping a word document with all the good advice! Our real estate agent is doing the "walk through" and closing the house, so I can't impose on her too much. Not being here for the transition is also a bit concerning, but is done here all the time. There are a lot of "snowbirds" so there are a lot services to cater to our needs. Que sera, sera! I will try not to worry too much!

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by Waterfront

Next time I need a laptop I am going to go with apple. I love my iPhone. That way I can sync everything.

It is a bit concerning buying a home and leaving it for a long time. At least mine will be empty. I am keeping a word document with all the good advice! Our real estate agent is doing the "walk through" and closing the house, so I can't impose on her too much. Not being here for the transition is also a bit concerning, but is done here all the time. There are a lot of "snowbirds" so there are a lot services to cater to our needs. Que sera, sera! I will try not to worry too much!

Welcome to the Villages! We also worried a lot about leaving our home in the Villages, but as time passes and nothing bad happens we worry less and less each time we have to head back north. I have found that I end up worrying much more about our home up North when we are in Florida, as there are many more potential problems with that residence. As far as your next computer, good call on an apple. Although there are things I dislike about apple, their phones, iPads and computers are very stable and always work.