A property management company in Florida typically handles investment properties and does marketing to find tenants, deals with leases, and collects rent. A house sitter simply lives in your home while you are away.
But a Home Watch company in Florida is very different. The good ones are licensed, bonded, insured, and certified by the National Home Watch Association and will set you up with a hand-selected, background-checked, and trained professional whom you will get to know. This professional will make regular, scheduled visits (usually weekly or twice per month) to the unoccupied home looking for evidence of water leaks in plumbing, walls, or ceiling, invasive pests, mold, storm damage, HVAC and issues with humidity, obvious swimming pool and roof issues, break-ins, vandalism, squatters, debris, mail build-up, and more.
There is an in-depth checklist for the visual inspection of the entire exterior and interior of the property and the running of water sources, among many other things. But the service can also be broadened and highly customized to include emergency visits, special tasks, and an array of concierge services that are unique to your needs.
An electronic report is sent to you after each home check visit. The report includes photographic and written documentation of the visit.
The Home Watch professional will be the eyes and ears of the homeowner who may be anywhere the world —and especially in times of crisis like pre-and-post hurricanes. This professional can oversee storm prep, post hurricane clean-up, and even everyday duties like scheduling and overseeing repairs, deliveries, getting contractor estimates, and more.
While property management companies in Florida deal with the property and its tenants year-round, Home Watch companies focus mostly on seasonal homeowners, snowbirds, senior citizen owners, business travelers, or any kind of owner who is absent from the home for any period of time; be it short or long.
While a Home Watch company is certainly capable of property managing certain aspects of the home for you (and we do), the primary role is to visit the home on a regular basis looking for obvious issues and to keep the homeowner connected to their asset in a professional and stress-free manner.