Leaving a house unoccupied for long periods

[rodi]

The "hold" option is only good for a maximum of 30 days, however. After that, USPS won't hold it any more, so you'll have to figure out some other way to deal with it, if you choose hold for the first month.

I've heard people get around this by notifying the USPS that they authorize a specific person to pick up the held mail. That person then restarts the hold.

 

[RAE]

I've heard people get around this by notifying the USPS that they authorize a specific person to pick up the held mail. That person then restarts the hold.

I asked about that, but our local Post Office manager wouldn't do it. Worth asking about, however, as your local P.O. manager may interpret the rules differently.

 

[pb4uski]

I would turn off the water where it enters the house. As others have said, a lot of damage can occur if you have a pipe burst.

We had our mail held at the P.O. and had someone pick it up occasionally.

Before we left, I installed a system where I could monitor the inside temperature via the internet. It saved our bacon as I was able to see the inside temperature was dropping and call our plumber and have him check out why... a part on the heating system had failed. It could serve the same purpose in monitoring temps don't get too high as well.

My sister returned from a 3 week vacation to discover that she had had a power outage and for some reason when the power came back on her refrigerator had not come back on so everything in her freezer melted and her kitchen floor got soaked and ruined. However, other than having someone checking on the place I'm not sure what she could have done differently.

 

[Bamaman]

Should I turn off the water to the whole house? Absolutely cut off the water.

- How about insurance? If you're temporarily leaving, your insurance will remain in force. It's not an issue.

- Has anyone tried those wifi enabled security cameras? By all means install the cameras and a digital recorder--and have cameras in obvious locations. Just having them is an incentive for burglars to go elsewhere.

- How about mail service? You could get a post office box. I'd have all my important bills on auto pay or get online billing where you can pay'em online.

 

[ivinsfan]

If anyone has a digital thermostat that runs on batteries, swap out the batteries before you leave your house, especially in the wintertime.

 

[imoldernu]

Our "long list" here:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/advice-on-long-snow-bird-commute-76163.html#post1564044

 

[drb391]

pretty sure I learned of this somewhere here, but bears repeating. neighbors say it's very effective http://www.amazon.com/FakeTV-FTV-11-US-Bright-Burglar-Deterrent/dp/B00BTKGHDE

 

[nafddur1]

Our local post office also has that 30 day limit. But we've gone away numerous times over the last 3 years over 30 days (up to 7 weeks away), and never had a problem with them holding our mail. We DO use the option of not restarting delivery until we return, however, (as opposed to giving the post office stop and then restart dates) so they really have no way of knowing how long we've been away.