We get it. You’re a thousand miles away from your home, becoming busy in your life abroad. You want to rent out your faraway home and maintain it, but you’re just not getting the time to pay attention to it. While I totally relate and would love to tell you that you’re not alone, turns out leaving your property unattended for too long can be more damaging than you think. You don’t just lose money. With a vacant property, you may lose insurance coverage and even ownership in some cases. Not trying to scare you, just informing of the dangers of leaving your property vacant so that you may take better care of your distant home and not lose money on it.
Contents
1) Theft and Vandalism
If you think this can’t happen to you since your home is empty, think again. So if not the furniture or showpieces, they can steal the copper from your electrical wiring and air conditioning units. When owners get smart, thieves get smarter. There’s a goldmine (or copper mine) everywhere. Not to mention the amateur graffiti artists who love an empty home with walls. The walls are a blank canvas for them to spray away. Hence, it’s better to install a security system to keep a watch on your home at all times and avoid such situations.
2) Water Damage
A nightmare for homeowners indeed. Changing seasons is the biggest culprit when it comes to water damage. In the winters, the pipes can freeze and burst due to tension. And this burst pipe can leak water into the house during summers. Monsoon will attract insects and creepy crawlies to the damp and cause an infestation. The result is a soaking soggy home for pests. Like I said, a nightmare and one of the nastiest dangers of leaving your property vacant. So drain your plumbing if you’re planning to keep your house empty for long.
3) Homeowner’s Insurance May not Cover the Damages
Under a standard homeowner’s insurance policy, properties vacant for longer than 30 days may not cover the damages to the house, if any. This is one of the monetary dangers of leaving your property vacant. So carefully check the terms of the insurance beforehand and plan accordingly. Also, try to keep your home rented out for as long as possible. You can only incur losses by keeping it empty.
4) Squatters
The motto of squatters is, “If no one lives there, we will.” An empty apartment is a rent free home for them. The problem with squatters is that sometimes it’s difficult to remove them from the premises. While some may obey and leave the space, others may revolt, causing more damage to your property. A good surveillance system on your property can catch these squatters early, leading to effective dispute resolution.
5) Fire
You don’t need a person to start a fire, a faulty heating system can do that. Otherwise it can be a squatter who lit a candle in the wrong place which ultimately lit up the curtains, making it one of the deadliest dangers of leaving your property vacant. So don’t leave anything to chance. Check the security system regularly and ask those near your property to help you out.
So how to easily take care of a distant property?
While setting up a surveillance system is your best bet to avoid most of the risks mentioned above, sometimes it takes longer for someone to get to your property’s location while you watch it burn to the ground from the surveillance camera. So how to avoid these dangers of leaving your property vacant? Hire a property manager. Hiring an experienced property manager’s services can save you from the constant worry of dealing with your faraway home since they’ll do the job for you.
