Are you hesitant to lend tools to your neighbor, figuring you’ll never get them back, or that they’ll come back in a different condition than they were lent? Then why would you trust your home—your biggest asset—into the hands of your neighbors? Nobody can look after your home as well as you can except for a professional Home Watch Service. That’s why we recommend you never trust a neighbor with your home. Here are a few reasons why.
Never Trust a Neighbor with Your Schedule
You can never trust a neighbor to be on your schedule. Your neighbors have busy lives, and their little life emergencies crop up almost on a daily basis. How are they going to make your home a priority? They’re not. Their own families will come first. That means papers, flyers and mail may build up for days before your neighbor has the time to come to your home and collect them—a sure tip-off to unsavory characters that your home is unoccupied.
Your Neighbor Won’t Be as Careful
If given access to your house interior, your neighbor will probably just run into your home, take a quick look around, assess that things look fine, and leave. They may bring their kids or dog with them who could damage items in your home. They may forget to water your plants or feed your fish. They could leave doors or windows unlocked, or not check to ensure that they are secured. They also won’t look behind the scenes to see if there is a leak beneath the washing machine or water heater, for example.
Your neighbor may also be careless with your home keys. Keys could be lost or misplaced, or if they are hidden outside, could be revealed when being retrieved or replaced to anyone watching your home. In addition, thieves know all the best hiding places for keys. You don’t want to leave a key outside.
And heaven forbid that the neighbor’s kids use your key to hold a party in your house while you’re not home. A swimming pool or hot tub can be an attractive lure for young folks, but a liability nightmare for you.
You May Ruin the Relationship
If your neighbor neglects to care for your home as promised and something happens, that could mean the end of a civil relationship. Neighbors are as important as friends, as we will need to rely on them from time to time. Bitter relationships can only lead to bitter outcomes.
Never Trust a Neighbor to Know What We Know
As a professional Home Watch service, at Golden Rule Home Watch we are trained to look for anomalies like a dripping faucet, a temperature fluctuation, or a potential electrical short. We also use an itemized checklist to ensure that we review every system in your home. You’ll review our checklist before we begin and can customize it to add items you feel would be important, like filling a pool or mowing the grass.
Following each scheduled visit, you receive an extensive and detailed e-report, and emergency service when necessary. Most of the time, your report will say that everything is A-OK. If we find that there is a problem, we will let you know immediately and offer solutions to remedy it, whether we hire and monitor a contractor on your behalf or fix a small problem ourselves after your approval. In other words, your home IS our top priority.
You Can Trust Golden Rule Home Watch
If you have a home in Northern Virginia, will be absent for a period of time, and want to have your home—and/or car—cared for while you’re away, contact Golden Rule Home Watch. We are licensed, bonded and insured, and a member of the National Home Watch Association. Never trust a neighbor with your home. Always hire a professional.