leaving house empty

Fizz wrote:

deereone wrote:
This may have nothing to do with snowbirds leaving the house while on vacation. But, my uncle passed away a few weeks ago. His daughter called his house insurance company to ask if any changes needed to be made to the policy as the house would set empty till they settled the estate. The insurance company informed her if the house was going to be unoccupied for over 30 days they would not insure it. Sometimes your afraid to ask. So she went to another insurance company and was able to get it insured, but at nearly double the cost just because it would be unoccupied. Just something to think about.

The term they use is 'Abandoned' since the original insurer is never coming back. Very different from being a Snowbird for a few months. It's all in the wording.

When my aunt passed away in 2007, the insurance company had a vacant home insurance which costs more. In the case of a snowbird, it's a little different.

In addition to the usual things like turning the water off to the ice maker, washing machine, and all sinks/toilets and putting the water heater on "vacation", we set the heat to 50 degrees. We have baseboard hot water heat and were told that the water to the house should not be turned off.
We got a seasonal insurance policy which was significantly more expensive than a regular policy.

We also installed a GE wireless security system with very easy to install wireless sensors. If you have Internet while you are gone you can get a wireless camera you can access via your page on the security company's web site. The security company we use is FrontPoint Security

If there is a power outage there is a 24 hour backup battery and an email is sent telling you when it went out and one when it came back on. If it is out for more than a specified time you will get a call.

The system uses the Verizon data network to communicate with the monitoring company. It uses other providers like Sprint if there is no Verizon coverage.

We have door/window sensors, motion detector, freeze detectors, and flood detectors. In exchange for a big discount on the sensors you have a 3 year contract at $50 per month. After the three years I expect the monthly cost will go down but don't know for sure.

I put mine at 55 degrees which is as low at it will go. I would go lower (by purchasing new thermostats) but I have some water pipes that are run in exterior walls. They are the pipes for my hot water baseboard heat and exterior hose bibs. My feeling is you could go to 45 IF you do not have any water pipes on exterior walls,

I put mine at 50 which is as low as it goes.

SGTJOE wrote:
I put the thermostat on 45. Have the city shut down the water, also turn it off inside, drain the water heater, shut it off, turn off all breakers not needed, open all facets and let ADT know I'll be gone for awhile. My house set empty for two years while I was activated to Dover AFB, DE in 2001. Never had a problem with good neighbors and especially my ADT alarm system. I do have family that checks it occasionally with a walk through. Been doing this since 1999. For less then 35 bucks a month ADT gives me peace of mind both traveling and at home.

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Put the thermostat on 45 degrees? Wonder what others do?
I put mine at 55 or 60 degrees. Maybe try 45 this winter.

thanks

I put the thermostat on 45. Have the city shut down the water, also turn it off inside, drain the water heater, shut it off, turn off all breakers not needed, open all facets and let ADT know I'll be gone for awhile. My house set empty for two years while I was activated to Dover AFB, DE in 2001. Never had a problem with good neighbors and especially my ADT alarm system. I do have family that checks it occasionally with a walk through. Been doing this since 1999. For less then 35 bucks a month ADT gives me peace of mind both traveling and at home.

I winterize, but every year i worry that i have forgot to do something. Never had a problem - yet.
I try turning off the water at the source, open all faucets, disconnect anything that may cause a problem. Unplug everything. Put water heater on 'vacation'. Put anti freeze in washing machine. Most of our neighbors know we are gone and keep an eye open for us. Forward mail to our son, who can open anything he thinks is important. Pre-paid all bills I can. Cancel Time Warner. Paid anthing i can via internet. Power bill is drafted.
But I still think about 'what did i forget'.

An eighteen year old house sitter brings to mind several movies. None of them pleasant for the homeowner. I'd winterize and leave the heat on as well. Experience has taught me the freezing and thawing is harmful to Sheetrock.

Left mine empty for two years while I lived and worked overseas. I hired someone to watch it, someone else to do maintenance.

My brother is a stick and brick snowbird (many more of those than RV snowbirds). June-August in Michigan, rest of the year in Florida, big houses in each place. At each end, he has someone paid to watch and take care of the house when he is not there. For a number of years, he had a nephew in the house, when not there, boy was going to university. My sisters would also use the house when they needed extra space.

This is house-sitting, sort of, and it works if it works. It didn't work for me, I had a house-sitter fail to take care of the house, then abandon it, except she used it for storage after she moved out. Your mileage may vary, but I will not be doing that again.

My cousin RV snowbirds, about six to seven months in Florida, but his northern property is a cabin on the lake. Everything there gets closed up for the winter, even if the owners don't go south, and there are security services to watch the properties and keep out vandals and squatters.

Arranging for the care of your empty property is just part of the cost of snow-birding, needs to be factored into your decisions whether to do it and how to do it.

FWIW, I left my house climate controlled, as does my brother. My cousin with the lakeside cabin winterizes it, just as you might winterize a RV, and leaves it cold.

There is a certain risk, one of my climate-controlled houses sustained substantial freeze and water damage when an ice storm knocked out power while I was away. If you are not set up with someone to take care of emergencies immediately, you would be better off winterizing.

The first time, at least, you should consult an expert on this, what it takes to winterize a house depends on what are the systems in the house and how they are installed. Summer homes are often engineered to be winterized, just like RVs. Many permanent homes, and complex residential appliances, are not.

ford coupe wrote:
if you have someone winterize home make sure they will be responsible for any freeze damage. our plumber said he wouldn't do dish washer or wasing machine-guess what dish washer didn't survive have to have repairmen come fix watwr valve & drain we did run machine w/water off & poured rv antifreeze in draain still froze haven't tried washing machine almost afraid to.we have done this 2 years & no problem till this year. we do turn heat completrlt off as i can't stomach 3-400 gas bill

That is very odd. Our dishwasher is a Kenmore and our Washing Machine is a GE, and I know for a fact that they freeze and thaw constantly throughout the winter months while we are snow birding, but yet we never have had any damage in the past twelve years that we have been snow birding.
We live in the high country of NC and this past winter broke all kinds of records for below zero weather, yet when we came home everything worked fine

Jack L