The chances are that this summer has made you glad you took the initiative to buy a second property to facilitate your last-minute vacations. Thanks to this expense, you’ve enjoyed relaxing weekends away all season.
Sadly, everything comes to an end, and this is no different. As such, you may well be shifting your attention to shutting up shop. Every time you head out, you might be in the habit of bringing a few things back. You may even be considering cleaning the place for its winter retirement.
It’s a sad but inevitable part of owning a second property, but it doesn’t mean you should leave your second home out in the cold this winter. Locking up and not even thinking about it all winter long would be a grave mistake. You could even open the doors next spring to burst pipes or mold on the walls.
Instead, then, you need to make plans now as to how you can care for this house without being there. And, we’ve got tips to help you do just that.
1. Take Steps to Protect Against the Cold
Many vacation homeowners turn the heating off when they leave for the winter, but this is never a good idea. Heat does a whole lot more than warm you. It also dries your property and warms your pipes.
Those are both essential for weathering winter. Instead of turning the heat off altogether, then, consider setting it for an hour or so each day to protect against the cold. If your vacation property is in a particularly cold climate, you may even want to invest in more extreme heating measures, like the self-heating pipe systems found on heatline.com.
Without any input from you, these can keep your pipes from bursting in the cold, all without costing you any more in heating than is necessary.
2. Consider Renting Your Property
Another option would be to rent your second property. This way, you’d be able to pull an income from it as well as saving yourself from stress. While this isn’t the time of year for the tourist crowd, you should find that advertising can appeal to locals who are willing to rent even during these cold months.
Bear in mind that, as mentioned on sites like realestate.usnews.com, more work goes into renting than you might expect. If you want to keep things simple, though, you could always pay a property management company in the area who can take all the pressure off your shoulders while still ensuring winter doesn’t take its toll on your property.
3. Ask Neighbors To Pop In
At the very least, it’s worth asking neighbors near your vacation home to check in at least once a week. For a small fee, you can bet they would be more than happy to go in there and air the place out for an hour or so in your absence. Then, you’ll be able to return to a fresh and cared for property the second the hot weather rolls back around.
