What To Do With the Sticks & Bricks

[Bipeflier]

Looking at trying Snowbirding for the first time later this winter.

DW worries about the house here in Mid-Missouri. Our Daughter lives near so she could check up every few days but tell me what is wrong with my plan.

I would shut the water off,
drain water heater and pipes (JIK),
set the heat to about 50 degrees F,
take food from frig with us,
leave a "night light",
Stop the mail,
lock up and leave.

What am I missing?

[Us_out_West]

We have a close friend that stays in our house and takes care of all the utilities and any maintenance needed.

He is is also in law enforcement.

:B

[John_Joey]

...We just don't want to have an "Oh $hit" moment when we get a thousand miles from home. LOL

Well if that's the case then it's going to be something involving paperwork like:

• passports left behind
• expired tabs on the rv/vehicle
• driver license renewal forgotten
• filing of taxes
• failing to call the credit card company telling them you're hitting the road
• backup credit card, etc...

Otherwise sounds like you got things pretty much covered.

[portliz]

Check with insurance company anyway. Plans differ.

[Bipeflier]

Thanks for all of the replies so far.

Hadn't considered the internet camera, great idea.

We are only looking at a couple of months or so to start so I don't foresee issues with insurance, etc.

We just don't want to have an "Oh $hit" moment when we get a thousand miles from home. LOL

[Dick_B]

We shut off the water AND water heater, set the t/s to 50 and leave. Draining the system (we have hot water heat) is too much work for us. We also have an internet camera pointed at our temperature gauge inside the house so we can see if the temp drops below 50.

[darsben1]

Bipeflier wrote:
Looking at trying Snowbirding for the first time later this winter.

DW worries about the house here in Mid-Missouri. Our Daughter lives near so she could check up every few days but tell me what is wrong with my plan.

I would shut the water off,
drain water heater and pipes (JIK),
set the heat to about 50 degrees F,
take food from frig with us,
leave a "night light",
Stop the mail,
lock up and leave.

What am I missing?

You are missing the BIG SMILE as you head off on an adventure.

[2oldman]

A few house posts

[Johno02]

Check with your insurance Company, but you should be OK with someone coming by occasionally the to check on it. There are a few places that being absent for over six months or so brings up a question of abandoment, and some insurance requires that the residence be occupied. In our rural neighborhood, all our neighbors usually know that we are travelling, and we usually tell the local law enforcement that we will be gone, as well as if we have anyone coming by.

[pennysmom09]

We have been snowbirding for a few years now. We turn off the water, turn the thermostat to 55, put water heater on "vacation", forward the mail and go. Never needed to do anything special about the plumbing. We empty the pantry of perishables and leave a few condiments in the frig. A neighbor checks on the house every couple of weeks, we arrange to have the leaves cleaned up also turn on the alarm system. Other considerations are bill paying, prescriptions, wifi, or any other services you require. All very doable. Lots of helpful hints on this forum!

[path1]

Your list looks pretty good so far. We had an unplanned family issue pop up when we were snowbirding last year. Wife had to fly back home to take care of it, I couldn't go because of other comments. What we learned from that was...

Make sure wife can "re- open" your house. As in how to start your water heater, where water valve is etc. Also this was first time my wife looked under her hood to hook up her battery on her car. She had to pick up a crescent wrench because tools were still with me.

We now have a written check off list to close down and re-open house.

Also we now carry couple suite cases and a suit in RV just in case.

[Community Alumni]

That's essentially what we do. I shut off the hot water heater but don't drain it nor do I drain any pipes. I also have several timers for lights throughout the house. I leave the heat around 60F.

I also have a neighbor across the street with several vehicles who leaves one in my driveway. It's in & out during the day.

I also have a snow removal service for the driveway & walks.