Imagine that the first thing you smell when you open the door of your vacation home is the musty scent of mildew and you can’t believe your eyes when you see the flooding in the kitchen and the dark brown stain in the ceiling above it. You came to your property earlier than planned, you had to - not because of the flood but because of your neighbor’s call that followed their call to the police after they heard noises in your home and speculated there were intruders in your home. The trashed bedrooms confirm it - you’ve been robbed! Now wake up - it was just an absentee homeowners nightmare!
Whether you are away on holiday, a prolonged stay away from home, or you travel back and forth from city to city, leaving your Florida condo or home unattended is a nightmare, and having someone checking on your home guarantees your peace of mind and uninterrupted security for your home. The following 5 areas of property management are, without doubt, the main worries of absentee homeowners, which in Florida represent more than 40% of the total:
1. Security
Home security can be a challenge for absentee property owners. After all, the property may be left vacant for long periods of time, or be used by a number of renters, who usually leave a door unlocked or a light on when leaving. The security issue for these absent homeowners is a big deal as they are far away wondering if contractors show up and do their job without trespassing into any other areas of the house or if their renters left without damaging the property. With today’s technology, homeowners can get emails or texts if window or door sensors are triggered at anytime of the day or night. They can also arm or disable security systems over the internet, set new pass codes online, and check at what times the doors of the house were opened and at what time security systems went on and off. Cameras that track movement inside and in the outside perimeter of the house provide visuals in real time and store them as recordings for later viewing. Of course, privacy concerns dictate that interior video cameras not be used in a house that has renters.
2. A Voice in The Condo or Home Owners Association
Having a voice in community association matters is way more important for homeowners than people care to say. Remember that a Florida HOA can determine hugely important decisions with just a 10% -15% quorum during elections. Let's say your association represents 100 condos or homes, if 15 people show up to an election and decide to increase reserves by 400%, buy an adjacent property or paint the building purple they can... everyone else has to suck it up and move one. Electing a new board of directors, approving alterations, amending governing documents, or waiving reserves are hugely important issues that Florida homeowners are being excluded from because of antiquated voting methods. Absentee homeowners have to trust that their associations are going to be diligent and keep them informed and then pray that their votes are not lost in the mail (which happens a lot). Most absentee homeowner's voices are ignored in their association's because management has very limited time, board members want to keep control and owners just don't have the time, energy or interest to deal with this sort of stuff.... No one likes homework and that's what current elections feel like. They're still VERY important issues being decided in association elections and electronic voting is the only way to fix this huge problem.
3. House Keeping
Most absentee homeowners experience some level of stress regarding the care and maintenance of their properties. Some homeowners may leave a key with a neighbor or family member, having no guarantee that their home is being watched or cared for. Others choose to simply ignore their properties until they get back because they don’t know who to call or even what needs to be done. One of the main worries of absentee homeowners is housekeeping. It’s challenging to monitor a maid service that cleans thoroughly, picks up and forwards mail, puts garbage and recycling at the curb or down the trash chute, changes air filters, waters indoor plants and shuts off outdoor spigots in the rainy Florida summer.
4. Gardening/Landscape
Scheduling full gardening care services on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis isn’t the challenging part - it is knowing that the job was done right every time at the right time. Absentee homeowners have to delegate their landscaping to professionals that honor their arrangements even though they are gone and unable to check on results. Extra tasks that must be met in the landscaping department is making sure solar lights are operating, monitoring pests, and arranging for tree removal, if/when fallen.
5. Service & Maintenance Repairs
A burst pipe or broken thermostat happens to everyone, but becomes a huge problem for homeowners who don’t realize there’s a problem until its too late. Should a subcontractor need to be called in for specialty work such as plumbing or electrical, what is most important is that it is done in a timely manner, and this requires a close monitoring of the property to spot problems before they become huge. A common absentee homeowner problem is not being able to observe both the front and back of the outside of the house, check ceilings for possible leaks, replace light bulbs as needed, flush toilets and run disposal weekly. To check windows, doors, AC, water heater, and timed night lights are not matters to brush off without a worry in the world. Homeowners wish to protect their investments by keeping their home in the perfect state even if they are not around.
According to the National and State Statistical Review for 2015, Florida is at the top of the list of registered homeowners associations with more than 47,000 members, which is approximately 14% of the national total. The national rounded number of estimated residents in associations is 68 million, the state of Florida holds the number 1 spot in the list with 9,496,000 (14% of the total), followed by California with 9,000,000 registered residents.
As many as 40% of Florida homes are not occupied by their owners, meaning there’s a high number of absentee landlords and a great number of homes that are only seasonally occupied. The fact that so many Florida home owners live out of state or out of the country, creates a very compelling case for streamlining communications and providing mobile access to a management and association platform that gives homeowners higher visibility and more control, specifically over the 5 major problems that all absentee homeowners face.
