What is a home watch service?

A home watch is a regular visual inspection of a vacant home, inside and out, looking for obvious problems—leaks, pests, storm damage, security issues—before they become expensive. Each visit comes with a detailed photo report.

Isn't this just house sitting?

No. We're not house sitters—we don't stay in your home. We make scheduled inspection visits and document what we find.

How is it different from a property manager?

We're not property managers. We focus on visual inspection of your home while it's unoccupied, not leasing, rent collection, or tenant management.

What do you check on each visit?

Outside: exterior systems, irrigation, security and cameras, landscaping, storm damage, and mail/package retrieval. Inside: HVAC and thermostat, plumbing and leaks, smoke/CO detectors, humidity, pests, security system, and locked doors and windows.

Will my insurance company accept home watch documentation?

Often, yes—some insurers require proof of regular home watch on vacant properties. Our photo reports provide that documentation. Check your policy for specifics.

Advice and Recommendations

How should you plan for leaving your home unoccupied? Homes vary a ton, but here’s a few things and products I recommend. None of these are sponsored; they’re just ones I use and like.

Products I like:

Ting Electrical Monitors

These little doodads plug into an outlet in your home and send out reports and alerts on power surges, power outages, or dangerous wiring issues. One-time setup, no subscription fees, and you may even get a discount on your home insurance.

Zigbee Temp/Humidity Sensors

Paired with an Aquara hub, placing a few of these sensors around the house gives you good alerts on overheating/humidity that can trigger mold. Your smart thermostat can really only read the room it’s in. You can move these anywhere.

Kasa Smart Plugs (for lights, etc.)

While I love the old manual dial ones, one power outage can throw a wrench into your schedules. These gizmos are programmable and will keep their programmed settings after power reboots.

Tactics I like:

These are personal suggestions, and don’t constitute formal recommendations. Your mileage may vary.

Temperatures/Humidity Levels:
• I like holding at 76.
• Humidity should be reliably below 60%
• If your thermostat/HVAC system can’t hold these, upgrade

Mail:
• Have your mail held via the USPS. Accumulated junk mail is an easy tip for scouts trying to see if your house is occupied.

Main shutoffs:
Know where these are.

• Power: there’s always a “single switch” shutoff for your entire home. It’s not always at the circuit breaker you know and love.

• Water: these are often out by your curb and will have a plastic cover, cuts off water from the city feed

Water heaters/softeners and other plumbing:

• Most of these have “away” or “vacation” settings. Going tankless is the right move, but if you have a tank, make sure it’s not keeping water hot during your time away.

• Consult your plumber for specific advice on draining your water heater, etc.

Austin Energy Outage Alerts (FREE!)

You can subscribe to get outage alerts and updates from Austin Energy. Just plug in your account and they’ll send you alerts.

Phyn Water Sensors

Pretty powerful pucks. Put them under sinks, around your water heater, etc. They'll ping you with any water emergencies. Put ‘em around water heaters, known points of water intrusion, etc

Ecobee Thermostats

Solid and smart. Great interfaces. Easy to install. Sadly they don’t work with some proprietary systems (thanks, Trane!), but odds are decent they’ll work on yours.

Advice and Recommendations

Products I like:

Tactics I like:

Watchwell Austin