Monitoring your home
We are new and plan on going to Florida for winter, How do you monitor your home when you are away? Especially the furnace, in case it goes out.
Forum Discussion
When away for two years I hired somebody from the local security company to check the house regularly. This in addition to the company monitoring the alarm systems full time.
I gave this person authorization to spend on my behalf for emergency repairs as needed.
I also hired somebody for property maintenance, he and the security guy were each aware of what the other was doing, and could coordinate to do minor things at a lower cost than calling out a $100/hour tradesmen to take care of a 10 minute job.
My brother also did this for his Michigan and Florida houses as he moved back and forth between the two seasonally. That is, when he didn't have relatives house sitting.
The technical monitoring is great, and you can "keep an eye" on almost everything, but if there is a problem you need to have some plan for taking care of it.
I gave this person authorization to spend on my behalf for emergency repairs as needed.
I also hired somebody for property maintenance, he and the security guy were each aware of what the other was doing, and could coordinate to do minor things at a lower cost than calling out a $100/hour tradesmen to take care of a 10 minute job.
My brother also did this for his Michigan and Florida houses as he moved back and forth between the two seasonally. That is, when he didn't have relatives house sitting.
The technical monitoring is great, and you can "keep an eye" on almost everything, but if there is a problem you need to have some plan for taking care of it.
