Preparing Your Home Before Your Vacation—a Checklist

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Your vacation is a great way to relax, refresh, and reconnect. Before you go, there are a few things you should do to protect your home while you’re gone, and ease your reentry when you return.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Vacation Checklist to protect your home while you are away

 

Make it hard for burglars to get in

  • Collect any spare keys you have hidden outside.
  • Install a motion-sensitive exterior light.
  • Park your car inside your garage. If you can’t, be sure to remove any valuables and the garage door opener from your vehicle.
  • Make sure all doors and windows are locked, including pet doors. Don’t forget the door between the garage and the house.
  • Disconnect the garage door opener receiver, or manually lock the door.

Safeguard your home

  • Florida experiences a lot of storms and lightning strikes, so unplug electronics, WiFi routers, printers, and computers to keep them safe from power surges. (This will also save you on your electric bill, because some electronics keep drawing power even when they’re turned off.)
  • Turn off the water main.
  • Turn off your water heater (if you’ve turned off the water main), or turn the temperature down.
  • Raise the temperature on the thermostat instead of turning off your air conditioning to protect your home and belongings from Florida’s high heat and humidity.
  • Avoid any unpleasantly smelly surprises by throwing away any food that might go bad before you return, and make sure you take out the kitchen trash before you go.

Don’t advertise the fact that you’re not home

  • Stop newspaper delivery and put a hold on your mail.
  • Wait to post your travel plans and experiences on social media until you return from your trip.
  • Don’t leave an outgoing voice message on your answering machine saying you’re out of town.
  • Help your home look lived-in by connecting interiors lights to a timer, and set them to come on at different times.
  • Hire someone or ask a friend or trusted neighbor to take care of your yard—mow the grass, water if necessary, and generally keep an eye on things. A big tree limb down in your driveway for several days is a major clue that no one’s home!
  • Consider hiring a house sitter to watch over everything while you’re gone, especially if you have pets. There’s something about knowing there is someone at home, and your pets will really appreciate being able to stay in their own environment.
  • If you don’t want or need a house sitter, leave emergency contact information with a neighbor.
  • Let your home security company know you’ll be out of town, and give them the names and contact information of your house sitter or a neighbor who has agreed to keep an eye on your house.
  • Ask a neighbor to park in your driveway a couple of times so your home doesn’t look deserted.

Enjoy your vacation, safe in knowing your homeowners insurance is on the job protecting your assets, and that you’ve done all you can to keep your home safe while you’re away.   And please give us a call at 813-672-4200 if you have any questions about your homeowners insurance, or you need a free, no-obligation quote.

How Your Homeowners Insurance Keeps Working, Even When You’re on Vacation

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Brandon Homeowners InsuranceWhile you’re making plans for a summer vacation, packing up the kids, and making arrangements for the dog, the last thing on your mind might be your homeowners insurance. You can rest assured that even though you’re on vacation, your homeowners insurance is still working for you back home. Here’s how:

It protects your personal belongings. Under Coverage C, your homeowners policy protects your personal belongings up to the policy’s limits (usually 50-70% of the insured value of your dwelling), less your deductible. If the contents of your home were to be damaged or stolen while you’re gone, you’d be covered—but did you know the personal property you bring with you on vacation is also covered? That means things like your luggage, your laptop, your golf clubs—if these items were lost or stolen while you’re on vacation, they would also be covered, again less your deductible. Note: some companies reduce off-premises coverage to a percentage of the total coverage for personal possessions, so you may want to check with your L & M Insurance Group agent if you have concerns about this.

It protects your liability. Even if you’re not home, if someone is injured on your property, the liability protection in your homeowners policy will cover you. Let’s say a friend is acting as house sitter for you while you’re away, and he or she falls and is injured. Your liability would cover this.

Or maybe you have a pool in your back yard, and some neighborhood kids decide to use it while you’re gone. Even if you’re not there and haven’t given them permission to use your pool, you could still be liable for any injuries.

(If you have someone staying in your home, or if you have a pool or a trampoline, you may need the additional liability protection of an umbrella policy.)

Your homeowners liability also covers you if you if you unintentionally hurt someone while you’re on vacation (for example, if you slice a golf ball into a fellow golfer!).

And, of course, it protects your home itself. Break-ins, vandalism, storm damage, fire—all the usual covered perils will continue to be covered while you are away.

(One thing to be aware of: standard homeowners policies do not cover floods. Since Florida is essentially one big flood zone, talk to your L & M Insurance Group agent about buying a flood policy—they’re more affordable than ever.)

It’s good to know your homeowners insurance is still working for you, even while you’re on vacation. Policy limits, exclusions, and deductibles still apply, so you should consult with your L & M Insurance Group agent to make sure you’re carrying the appropriate coverage and limits to protect your assets. Please contact us if you’d like a homeowners insurance quote, or if you have questions about what your policy covers.