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Old 08-18-2017, 12:15 AM
 
Location: Nevada
46 posts, read 118,313 times
Reputation: 42

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...and would love advice on what you did with regard to:

Leaving your primary home for months on end
Healthcare when outside your covered state
Your mail...how did you arrange for it to be forwarded?
And/or anything else you can think of to help this fledgling snowbird.

BTW...snowbirding from Nevada to Florida.

Thanks!
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Old 08-18-2017, 06:40 AM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
30,225 posts, read 15,984,216 times
Reputation: 43908
Not a snowbird but I know there are people who will winterize your house and check on it every so often.

Healthcare-you'd probably have to check with your insurance company, and ask your dr if need be, could your medical records be transferred electronically.

PO will forward mail but some things you'll have to pay postage until address changes go through.

Also, you might want to notify your credit card company so they won't think your card has been stolen when they start getting charges from a different area.

have fun.
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Old 08-18-2017, 09:23 AM
 
Location: Western Colorado
12,858 posts, read 16,768,138 times
Reputation: 33500
I didn't know it snowed in Florida.
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Old 08-18-2017, 09:35 AM
 
Location: Florida -
10,213 posts, read 14,738,790 times
Reputation: 21845
There must be a million (or more) snowbirds in Florida between Nov-Feb/Mar. Select your place in Florida early -- Give yourself time to negotiate rates and places.
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Old 08-18-2017, 10:48 AM
 
24,508 posts, read 17,962,799 times
Reputation: 40194
Snowbird is a ski resort in Utah. A great place to spend the winter.

I have two residences. The summer house gets shut down for the winter every year. The main thing is winterizing the domestic water and waste drains in case the heat quits. I'm all PEX so domestic water is pretty simple. Turn off the main shutoff. Flush the toilets to empty the tanks. Turn off the water heater. Put RV antifreeze in all the traps in sinks, toilet, shower. Run some RV antifreeze through the washing machine and dishwasher. Drain the cold water tank/icemaker in the fridge. If I had copper plumbing, I'd blow the water out but PEX is no big deal if it freezes.

My place has a 10x10 section of flat roof. In unusual winters, I have to get somebody to shovel it. That's maybe once per decade.

I keep meaning to put an internet thermostat on the zone for the common areas. I'd get an email if there was a low temperature problem. Maybe this fall, I'll get around to it.
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Old 08-18-2017, 01:17 PM
 
Location: Wasilla, AK
7,448 posts, read 7,505,724 times
Reputation: 16456
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffD View Post
Snowbird is a ski resort in Utah. A great place to spend the winter.

I have two residences. The summer house gets shut down for the winter every year. The main thing is winterizing the domestic water and waste drains in case the heat quits. I'm all PEX so domestic water is pretty simple. Turn off the main shutoff. Flush the toilets to empty the tanks. Turn off the water heater. Put RV antifreeze in all the traps in sinks, toilet, shower. Run some RV antifreeze through the washing machine and dishwasher. Drain the cold water tank/icemaker in the fridge. If I had copper plumbing, I'd blow the water out but PEX is no big deal if it freezes.

My place has a 10x10 section of flat roof. In unusual winters, I have to get somebody to shovel it. That's maybe once per decade.

I keep meaning to put an internet thermostat on the zone for the common areas. I'd get an email if there was a low temperature problem. Maybe this fall, I'll get around to it.
I have Samsung smartcams in each of my houses. My high tech solution for monitoring temperature is to put a big patio thermometer in view of one of the cameras. I check the unoccupied house once or twice a day.
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Old 08-18-2017, 01:21 PM
 
Location: Florida
6,593 posts, read 7,239,729 times
Reputation: 8102
Quote:
Originally Posted by Imascot View Post
...and would love advice on what you did with regard to:

Leaving your primary home for months on end
Healthcare when outside your covered state
Your mail...how did you arrange for it to be forwarded?
And/or anything else you can think of to help this fledgling snowbird.

BTW...snowbirding from Nevada to Florida.

Thanks!
You need to have someone go into the home once a week to make sure that it is ok. The idea of using cameras and other internet devices was a good one.

Turn off the water to the home, hot water heater and similar items.
Arrange for outside maintenance of home.
You have to buy a health insurance plan that is nation wide.
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Old 08-18-2017, 03:28 PM
 
9,295 posts, read 16,577,548 times
Reputation: 15745
Quote:
Originally Posted by Imascot View Post
...and would love advice on what you did with regard to:

Leaving your primary home for months on end
Healthcare when outside your covered state
Your mail...how did you arrange for it to be forwarded?
And/or anything else you can think of to help this fledgling snowbird.

BTW...snowbirding from Nevada to Florida.

Thanks!
We were snowbirds for many years from Northeast to FL Keys.

We shut off all the water, set the heat on 55 degrees, lights on timers, arrange for snow removal and had neighbor check on the house, usually once a week.

Forward Mail: Go online and you can forward mail through USPS website. Suggest you start forwarding the day you leave and stop two weeks before you expect to be home. Then HOLD mail and deliver on the day you will return to your home. Since our prescriptions are mail order, we called Pharmacy and change address as some times they won't forward medicine.

Healthcare: We have Medicare and Tricare, so it didn't matter. Friends that had private coverage didn't seem to have a problem but you might check with provider at the time of visit.
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Old 08-18-2017, 09:13 PM
 
Location: Florida
7,719 posts, read 6,274,512 times
Reputation: 15684
A friend of ours years ago had a thermostat plugged into a telephone jack in the house. He would dial the number, and if he got a ringing sound it was OK, if he got a busy signal then he knew it was cold in the house and he would call his brother to go check on it.

When we lived in Arizona we were not snowbirds, but we did go away with our camper sometimes for a couple of months. We had our utilities on auto-pay. We would phone our credit card companies to get a balance and send them a check. We had a mail slot in the garage wall and I built a bin on the inside that would hold about 4 months worth of mail.

With a condo it is easier to lock the door and leave, the grass gets cut and outside other things are taken care of.
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Old 08-19-2017, 12:55 AM
 
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,557 posts, read 57,471,708 times
Reputation: 45913
Quote:
Originally Posted by Imascot View Post
...and would love advice on what you did with regard to:

Leaving your primary home for months on end>>> I have 2 living spaces at each home. 'tenants' feeds the pets / livestock / plants and watches the place (An I like the extra cash flow)
Healthcare when outside your covered state (In USA we cannot afford healthcare, so we are on a Medical cost sharing network)
Your mail...how did you arrange for it to be forwarded? Tenant, or a mail forwarding service (Most is handled online)
And/or anything else you can think of to help this fledgling snowbird.

BTW...snowbirding from Nevada to Florida.

Thanks!
Do what you can to make it EZ on you / forget the 'hassles' of the other home. The extra cash flows we get help to find a serious travel budget!.
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