5 Tips to Care for Your Vacation Property When You Can’t Be There

Spending time at your vacation home is a treat for your whole family. To keep your property in peak condition each year, you must protect and maintain it at all times, even when you are not there.

Whether this is your first year owning vacation real estate or you need some ideas to brush up on care, here are five tips to help you keep your investment secure and beautiful all year long.

1. Turn Off the Water Supply

While you will need water supplied to your property for automatic sprinklers and any lawn treatments performed by contracted workers while you are away, it is essential to shut off the main water supply to your home. Switching off the water supply can help prevent flooding because of heavy rains or burst pipes during a winter freeze.

A burst pipe or flood is bad enough when you are on the premises to manage the damage, but one that occurs while you are away can leave costly residual damage to valuables and the property structure.

2. Use Timers to Light Up Your Home

A classic strategy to make your home appear occupied while you’re away is to leave lights on. The best way to carry out this approach is to put your lights on timers, thus making it far less appealing to burglars who prefer the cover of night.

Connect timers to random lights in different rooms in your home. Set the timers to turn on and off lights during the day and night as if you or a family member are moving from place to room.

3. Invest in a High-Quality Wi-Fi Security Camera

Homeowners away from the property throughout a season or two benefits from added security measures such as installing a Wi-Fi security camera. With a high-caliber home security camera system, you can keep tabs on all activity on your property at all times.

Such an approach to home security can also help you become more creative, allowing you to access the camera and microphone to virtually take you to your property, escaping the stress of the city, retreating to the peaceful atmosphere of your vacation home.

4. Buy and Install Changeable Locks

This tip is especially important if you rent your vacation property out during the winter. You need to provide them with a key for the time they are there, but it is necessary to make it as easy as possible to change the locks when they leave.

5. Hire a Property Manager

Hiring a property manager is another solution to keeping your vacation home safe and well maintained while you and your family are not there. You can either hire someone to perform routine maintenance matters that include landscaping or handling repairs for renters, or you may work with someone on an on-call basis.

With per-job property managers, you may ask them to stop by to perform duties such as picking up the mail, checking the pipes to make sure they haven’t frozen during a cold snap, and making sure the light timers are working properly.

Rest Easy Knowing Your Vacation Property Is in Good Shape

By committing to some solid planning to prevent property damage, with efforts like shutting off the main water valve, setting them alight timer to give the illusion you are home or installing an effective home security monitoring system, you won’t have to worry about returning to your tranquil refuge in the spring. This strategy ensures everything remains as you left it.