Need advice on being away for 6 months

[Carpediem]

My wife and I live in the southeast and recently bought a second home in the upper Midwest to be closer to grandkids. We will not have a set schedule for staying in one home versus the other. But we do plan on staying in our second home for 6 consecutive months in 2024 with the birth of another grandchild in January.

I'm looking for advice and suggestions on things to do to prepare for being away from our primary residence for 6 months. For example:

- Our southeast house has a pool. What are some things I should do to the pool before leaving it? Should I cover it? I'm guessing I won't be able to shut the water off to the house since the pool may need filling. True?

- How should we handle our mail? Use temporary forwarding?

- I have inside and outside cameras (and smart thermostats) but should I have someone stop in every month or two to check on things? Flush the toilets?

- Speaking of toilets, is there anything we can do to keep that dreaded red ring from forming?

- What are some other gotchas or things you may have discovered from doing something similar?

Thank you in advance for any and all feedback.

 

[MarieIG]

Well, we were out of our house for a few days, didn't shut off the water, there was a leak from a refrigerator hose, a massive flood, mold, most of the house had to be torn down to the studs, over 100k of expenses with mold remediation, asbestos abatement, and renovations. Now, this was during pandemic time, and presumably your cameras would pick up any issues quickly but . . .



Also please take stringent child safety precautions so far as the pool.

 

[braumeister]

Aren't those all things the butler and household staff at each home would be able to handle?

 

[Aerides]

With a pool I'd either hire a service or have some sort of house-watcher go by weekly. In S. Fla, particularly in the winter, it's going to need topping up frequently. In the summer, mine needs to be watched and emptied after good rain. Basically have a range up and down of 4-5 inches between the skimmer working well or not. And I can lose that in 2 weeks if it's super dry. I also don't like it to have leaves and dirt build up, so there's that maintenance, not to mention chemical balance, which is important for the surface. So that.

As far as the rest, yeah, 6 months? I'd want a house minder, lawn service, as well as cameras. I'd probably hold or forward mail.

 

[Carpediem]

Thanks for the responses so far. Two things I should have mentioned:

1. The pool is in an enclosure (bird cage).
2. We have an HOA that includes weekly lawn service.

 

[RetMD21]

I think the mail forwarding is a good idea but are flyers and free "newspapers" left at the door a problem? We get many of them and an accumulation would be noticable.

 

[Ronstar]

I don't know anything about pools, so I can't hep you there.

Mail - we used to have our mail forwarded to a nearby UPS store. Worked great. Could work for you if there's a nearby UPS store that accepts mail forwarding.

Yes - even though you have cameras, have someone stop in to flush the toilets. Have someone come by once a month. I've never had the dreaded red ring, but a monthly flush may prevent it.

You need to find that guy or gal who does home visits and who can handle any type of situation. We have a friend in AZ who handles 57 snowbird homes. Does routine visits and handles everything that pops up.

 

[bigcmagor]

We left the water on and had a toilet leak for an unknown period of time. Had to replace some drywall, carpet and the bathroom cabinets. Since the pool maintenance guy needs water for cleaning the filter and filling the pool, we had a separate spigot added before the shutoff for the house. Now we can depressurize the house when we leave and avoid another flood. Seran wrap over the toilets helps with evaporation and the problems that come from empty traps. We put RV antifreeze in all of the other drains for that reason too. Cameras are a good idea.

 

[COcheesehead]

We always turn the water off even if we are gone for just a few days. We have heard too many horror stories. We have cameras inside and out and use smart plugs to turn lights on and off. Our HOA has a private security service and he knows we’re gone. A little RV antifreeze in the p traps stops sewer smells in shower drains.

 

[pb4uski]

Talk with your pool vendor. For our pool up north that we closed every winter we partially drained it and then shocked it and covered it and left it for the winter not runnng at all. I'm not sure if you could do the same but I don't see why not. Then we woud reopen it in the spring.

Definitely turn off the water. If someone needs water to refill the pool they can turn it on and then turn it off but if a leak occurs when they are gone it can cause a lot of damage.

For mail, when we snowbird north for the summer we do a temporary address change with the USPS good for 6 months. Also, try to get as much as possible paperless and sign up for informed delivery where they send you and email with scans of the mail en route to you.

When we are away from our Florida condo for the summer we put out DampRid in a few places and are amazed at the amount of water in the containers when we return even though we have the AC and humidistat running all summer.

We also have cameras and a wifi thermostat.

 

[gamboolman]

We go on Road Trips quite regularly.
We pay trusted friends to check on the house almost daily. They bring in packages and take care of the house.
We also advise the Sherrifs Office that we are leaving and they check on the house regularly.
This method has worked for us very well.

 

[Chuckanut]

Have you considered that a six month stay in another state may trigger state income tax issues? Some states are very stubborn about such things.

 

[pb4uski]

^^^ Something to consider, but if the OP keeps everything in Alabama (driver's licenses, financial accounts, banks, homestead, etc and treats the upper midwest second home as just that... a second home... then they should be ok. Still, I would arrange my time so I am there just less than 6 months if possible and have good documentation.

 

[MC Rider]

Yes, tell them you are going to your other home. Don't tell them it is prison.

 

[Amethyst]

Where I live in southeast Florida, so many residents are seasonal that there are several bonded services that will do it all for a weekly or monthly fee. I hired one for 2.5 months between buying the Florida home and preparing the MD home for sale, and was glad I did.

They put a lockbox on the front door and sent a handyman over once a week to inspect appliances, make sure the AC was working properly, that no water was running where it shouldn't (including lawn irrigation sprinklers, which have a nasty habit of breaking and spewing well water), and I think he also flushed the toilets. They also hired a weekly lawn service and pool service, which I continued to use after moving in.

The handyman was a qualified technician for small breaks and problems. If anything big came up, such as a plumbing leak, the service has very quick access to plumbers, electricians, and so on. Probably faster than you could get someone yourself.

For long-term absentees, they offered a yearly or twice-yearly service to clean and oil all the sliding glass doors, screen doors, ceiling fans, front door locks, and anything else that tends to freeze up over time in a coastal climate. It wasn't cheap, and I learned to do most of it myself, but the need for such a service became obvious after living near the ocean for a while!

 

[Carpediem]

Great advice and suggestions and I appreciate it. Speaking of water leaks, has anyone tried using one of those leak detection devices? And if so, did you buy one for all the toilets and all the sinks?

 

[38Chevy454]

Here in midwest (Cincinnati) my pool is shut down, loaded up with winterizing chemicals and covered with a heavy duty safety cover for Oct-Apr. All pump and filter lines are drained, electric is shut off at the breaker. It seems to maintain the level just fine. If anything it might go up a bit since the safety cover is not waterproof. Come spring opening, I adjust the level as needed, get chemicals in balance, and start the cleaning process as the water gets a lot of dirt and stuff settling in the bottom.

I agree have a person go by about weekly to check on things, flush toilets and run sinks. The person can pick up anything that is thrown on driveway like ad papers. Ensure A/C is working, set it about 80 to avoid humidity building up. Mail you can do a temp forwarding for the period you are gone; either have it forwarded or just collected at post office and get a big delivery once you return.

 

[Ronstar]

Great advice and suggestions and I appreciate it. Speaking of water leaks, has anyone tried using one of those leak detection devices? And if so, did you buy one for all the toilets and all the sinks?

We have a few YoLink sensors. Work great! Just make sure that the email notifications don’t go to the junk folder

 

[Trailwalker]

Mail you can do a temp forwarding for the period you are gone; either have it forwarded or just collected at post office and get a big delivery once you return.

The post office will only officially hold mail for 30 days and recommends temporary forwarding if you need longer than that. I talked to my local postmaster last winter, and she let me go three months by doing 3 consecutive 30 day holds. New postmaster this year, so I don't know that I'll get away with that again.

 

[Lewis Clark]

We use the post office forwarding service. Have a neighbor check the box for stuff that gets delivered anyway.

Change delivery addresses for purchases.

Stop newspapers

Shut water isolation valve

Wash trash bins

Set light timers and thermostat

Change HVAC filters

Put small amount of bleach in each toilet, cover with plastic wrap, poke a couple of small holes in wrap.

Bring outside stuff inside, if possible (lawn furniture, grill, etc)

Put car insurance in storage mode if you will leave it behind.

Bring advanced directives, just in case.

Leave garage door remotes behind.

Empty refrigerator of perishables.

Turn off ice maker

Shut off electric water heater or pur gas heater on vacation mode.

 

[Amethyst]

Before any trip, I "eat down" whatever's in the fridge, freeze what I can (e.g. half-full half-gallon of milk) and throw away the rest. Nothing like coming home to a clean, mostly empty fridge that doesn't have an odor and is ready to be filled with fresh groceries.

We only have garbage collection once a week where I live, so I try very hard not to put any perishable trash in the bins (which are kept in the garage) between pickup day and leaving day.

Empty refrigerator of perishables.

e.

 

[fh2000]

I purchased a large standing mailbox with a lift top, and a locked door at the lower level. I installed it right next to our Ring door bell with camera. The mailbox is big enough for more than 3 months worth of mail including all the garbage mail.

 

[levindb]

For the pool, I have installed an automatic pool filler...sort of works like toilet float valve and keeps the pool at the right level. Our security system has leak detectors that you can place around the house (toilets, hot water tank, etc.) You can forward mail, or have neighbor send mail to you every few weeks. We give them prepaid USPS mailers to handle the important stuff. Thermostats and hot water heater in vacation mode and monitor everything via WIFI...we have been doing this for years two homes and extended travel (months at a time).

 

[SecondAttempt]

Where I live in southeast Florida, so many residents are seasonal that there are several bonded services that will do it all for a weekly or monthly fee. I hired one for 2.5 months between buying the Florida home and preparing the MD home for sale, and was glad I did.

They put a lockbox on the front door and sent a handyman over once a week to inspect appliances, make sure the AC was working properly, that no water was running where it shouldn't (including lawn irrigation sprinklers, which have a nasty habit of breaking and spewing well water), and I think he also flushed the toilets. They also hired a weekly lawn service and pool service, which I continued to use after moving in.

The handyman was a qualified technician for small breaks and problems. If anything big came up, such as a plumbing leak, the service has very quick access to plumbers, electricians, and so on. Probably faster than you could get someone yourself.

For long-term absentees, they offered a yearly or twice-yearly service to clean and oil all the sliding glass doors, screen doors, ceiling fans, front door locks, and anything else that tends to freeze up over time in a coastal climate. It wasn't cheap, and I learned to do most of it myself, but the need for such a service became obvious after living near the ocean for a while!

I've lived in one state and had a house in another. I highly advice paying a trusted person or service to look in on the house and take care of routine maintenance and cleaning occasionally. Also please discuss with your homeowner's insurance because your vacant house may not be covered.

 

[savory]

You may want to consider a house sitter. I have sat when in between houses and even to experience another city before moving. And had people sit my house. There are online services where you could read profiles. Also, putting the word out to friends, might lead you to a person/couple.