Home watch or property management in Sarasota?
What home watch covers, what property management adds, what an empty Sarasota home needs in summer, and when renting it makes more sense.
Home watch is someone checking on your empty home on a schedule and telling you what they find. Property management is renting the home out and running everything that comes with a tenant, including repairs, rent and inspections. If you want the home empty and ready for you, home watch or vacant-home checks fit. If you’d rather the home earn rent while you’re away, management is the better match.
Either way, an empty Sarasota home in summer needs more care than most owners expect. Here’s what each option covers and what the house needs while you’re gone.
What is home watch?
A home watch company visits your home on a schedule you agree on and walks through it. They look for water on the floor, a running toilet, AC trouble, signs of pests, storm damage and anything that seems off. Then they send you a report, often with photos. Many will also meet a vendor, receive a delivery or get the home ready before you come back.
What home watch doesn’t do is rent the home. There’s no tenant, no lease and no rent coming in. If something breaks, they usually call you or a vendor you’ve approved.
When you compare home watch companies, ask what each visit covers, how often they come, what’s in the report, and whether they carry liability insurance. Also ask whether your insurer expects checks on a set schedule, since that can decide how often visits need to happen.
What does property management add?
A property manager leases the home and runs the rental: pricing, marketing, screening, the lease, rent collection, repairs, inspections, monthly statements and renewals. For a seasonal furnished home, that also means cleaning and checks between stays, your own weeks blocked out on the calendar, and the sales and tourist tax. Our post on what a Sarasota property manager does covers the full list.
With a tenant in the home, someone is living there every day, the AC is running, and problems get reported fast. The tradeoff is that the home isn’t empty when you want to use it, unless you block weeks out or rent it seasonally.
What does an empty Sarasota home need in summer?
Summer is when an empty Florida home is most at risk. Heat, humidity, heavy afternoon rain and hurricane season all land at once.
AC and humidity. Leave the AC on. Humidity is the bigger enemy than heat in an empty house, and once it climbs, mold and musty smells follow. Have the system serviced before you leave, and ask your AC company what temperature and humidity settings they recommend for your system. A clogged condensate line can overflow and soak a ceiling or floor, so ask them to clear it.
Leaks. Water heaters, supply lines under sinks, toilet valves, ice maker lines and washing machine hoses can all fail with no one there to notice. A slow leak for a week can do a lot of damage.
Water shut-off. Many owners turn off the main water valve while they’re away. Ask your plumber whether that’s right for your home, especially if you have irrigation, a pool or a water heater that shouldn’t run dry.
Pests. An empty house with food in the pantry and a gap under the door invites ants, roaches and rodents. Clear out food, set up regular pest service and keep the exterior sealed.
Storms. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30. Someone needs to bring in outdoor furniture, put up shutters if your home has them, and check the home after a storm. Our hurricane season guide for rental owners walks through before, during and after.
The pool and yard. Keep pool service and lawn care going. A pool left alone in summer heat can turn green fast and usually costs more to bring back than to keep up, and an overgrown yard can bring a violation notice from your HOA.
Before you leave for the summer
A starting list. Your home, your insurer and your vendors may add more.
- Have the AC serviced and the condensate line cleared
- Ask your AC company what temperature and humidity settings to leave
- Ask your plumber about shutting off the main water valve
- Check the water heater, supply lines, toilet valves and washer hoses
- Empty the fridge and pantry, and set up pest service
- Read your insurance policy for vacancy or unoccupancy limits
- Bring in or tie down outdoor furniture and plan for shutters
- Keep pool service and lawn care on schedule
- Unplug electronics and leave a few lights on timers
- Give a spare key and your contact numbers to whoever checks the home
- Set up regular checks, and a check after any storm
Does your insurance cover an empty home?
Check before you go. Some homeowners policies limit or exclude certain coverage once a home has been unoccupied or vacant for a set period, and the wording matters. Some policies also have conditions about keeping the heat or AC on, or shutting off the water.
Read your policy, then call your insurance agent and ask plainly: how long can the home sit empty before coverage changes, and do you need regular checks for a claim to be covered? If the answer worries you, ask what it would take to fix it. We’re not insurance agents, so we can’t tell you what your policy covers.
When does renting the home make more sense?
If you won’t use the home for months at a stretch, it may make more sense to rent it. A few signs it’s worth a look:
- You’re away more than you’re there, and the empty months keep adding up.
- The home’s costs (insurance, dues, upkeep) are rising and you’d like rent to cover more of them.
- You’re paying for checks, pool service and lawn care on a home no one is using.
- Your association allows the kind of lease you’d want.
There are two common setups. An annual unfurnished lease brings steady rent, but you give up using the home. A seasonal furnished rental lets you keep your own weeks and rent the rest, with high season running January to April and low season May to December. Our seasonal management page explains how a season runs, and our post on how seasonal renters find Sarasota rentals covers where those stays come from.
What are our vacant-home checks?
When a home we manage sits empty between tenants or seasons, we check on it, so small problems like a leak, a failing AC or a humidity issue get caught early. Before a storm, we help arrange the prep your home needs, and after it passes, we check the home and report back. If anything needs attention, we line up the repair.
[NEEDS RICHARD: a vacant-home problem you caught early (AC out, leak, humidity), what you found and what it saved the owner]
What’s the next step?
If you’re weighing an empty summer against renting, start with the numbers. Request a free rental analysis and we’ll send an annual rent range, and a seasonal range if your home fits, so you can compare that against what it costs to keep the home empty. Read more about how we manage rentals or call Richard at 941-800-8891.
