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How to Protect a Home When Away in Winter?
kidMike writes "I have just accepted a new job in another state, requiring me to relocate. I'm going to keep my house in New England. As I watch the winter storm problems and electrical outages across the country, how do Slashdotters protect their houses (or cabins) when they are away in the winter? Is there a device that will call me if the temp in the house drops below a certain level? How about a broken pipe flooding the house? How can I keep advised of problems happening hundreds of miles away? (There will still be broadband at the house.)"
Option 1: Set up a web cam pointed in your living room, and put a thermometer in view. Then you'll see if there's a broken pipe, and you can read the thermometer.
Option 2: get to know your neighbor.
Is there a device that will call me if the temp in the house drops below a certain level? How about a broken pipe flooding the house? How can I keep advised of problems happening hundreds of miles away?
Well, you could tell your neighbours that you're going away and ask them to check in on everything every once in a while.
Granted this isn't a high-tech proposal, but it would probably be effective.
"Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
If all you are worried about is burst pipes, you aren't familiar with the results of leaving a building unoccupied. The only way to be sure it will remain in good condition is to have somebody live there every day. Sure, they won't clean the shower the way you like, and they'll break your toaster oven, but the house won't get robbed by a burglar who targets unoccupied houses (happened to my parents at two different houses), won't get burst pipes, won't have a roof leak that destroys everything because it wasn't fixed, won't get infested with pests, and so on.
If you rent it to somebody, you also get money.
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
Call a plumber experienced with winterizing vacation homes. Install a monitored alarm and have a friend setup as a contact. Try a construction/home maintenance forum.
Renting, at first blush, seems like a good idea.
However, consider that it really only works that way when there aren't any problems.
There are more than enough horror stories surrounding the "absentee landlord" scenario.
What if there really are major repairs that need to be made?
Or, more to the point, what happens if you get troublesome tenants? What if they don't pay or keep the property in good condition?
It'd be recommended to hire a trustworthy management company to rent/manage the house (but, even then there can be problems: like, reporting the property as vacant while collecting rent on it).
And this is your home, not a "rental property." Would you be comfortable coming back to your place with it requiring work to bring it back to the state you remember? Not that renters are bad people... but, you're more likely to see damage to property when the people residing there don't have an attachment to it (same holds for those facing foreclosure... ever seen a foreclosed property where people have poured cement into the pipes for spite sake? I have.).
Sure... could be an opportunity to make some money while away. If the gig is short-term, I'd look for a good friend to mind the place while you're away or see if you have a friend that wants to live there while you're gone.
If the gig is longer term, sell the house and buy something newer/better when you return.
Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.