Sun City West Home Watch, One Visit at a Time

Before we ever reach for the key, we stand at the curb for a minute. We look along the roofline, the stucco, and the block wall for anything a storm knocked loose, and we gather what has collected at the door. That means the mail, the flyers, the door hangers, and any package left on the step. A cluttered doorway is the first thing a stranger notices on a quiet Sun City West street, so it never stays that way. You get a note on your phone that we have arrived.

We step in and check the air. The thermostat should read 85 on cool, the fan should be on auto, and the vents should be blowing cold. We open the breaker panel to look for anything that has tripped, confirm the ceiling fans are turning slowly to keep the air moving, and listen for the chirp of a smoke or carbon monoxide detector that needs a battery. If one does, we replace it from the supply you leave for us.

If you shut the main off when you left, we open it just long enough to do this part. We run each faucet, tub, and shower for about thirty seconds and flush every toilet, which keeps the traps under the drains full so sewer gas cannot creep in. We run the disposal briefly so it does not seize, then check beneath the sinks, beside each toilet, and all the way around the water heater for the first sign of a drip. We check that the water softener is still holding in vacation or bypass mode and that a reverse osmosis system, if you have one, is not leaking. Then the main goes back off.

Months of dry, conditioned air are hard on rubber seals, wood, and grout. Many owners leave buckets of water in the larger rooms, plus small ones near the dishwasher and washing machine, to keep a little moisture in the house. We top them all up. We also make sure the cabinet doors under the sinks are still open for air, and that the dishwasher and washer doors are cracked so nothing sours inside.

Then we simply walk the house, room by room, the way you would if you had just come home. We look up at the ceilings and around any skylights, especially after a monsoon, and we look down along the baseboards for scorpions, droppings, or anything that has moved in. We notice smells too. A musty corner or a sour drain tells us more than a camera ever could.

If you have a pool, we check that the water level is right, which tells us whether the auto fill is overflowing or has stopped, and we listen to the pump and equipment for anything that sounds wrong. We walk the desert landscaping for plants that are struggling or a drip line that has split, and we check that the landscape lights are coming on when they should.

On the way out we try every door, window, and slider, put the house back just as we found it, and send you a second note that we have left. Then comes the report. It gives you plain notes on what we saw, room by room, with photographs of anything that needs your attention, so you know how your home is doing from wherever you are. Those reports also give you a dated record of regular visits, which some insurance companies ask about when a home sits empty.