Home Watch & Concierge for Snowbirds and Seasonal Homeowners in Boca Raton, Delray Beach & West Palm Beach

Home watch is a scheduled visual inspection of a vacant or seasonal home, carried out by a trained professional looking for problems before they turn into expensive ones. It is not a security patrol and it is not property management. It is a documented, regular set of eyes on your home while you are not in it. Every Latitudes visit ends with a photo-documented report.

Property management is built around tenants and rental income: leases, rent collection, tenant requests. Home watch is built around your home while you are away from it: inspections, early detection, storm response, and coordinating access for the people you trust. If you rent your property out you probably want a property manager. If your home sits empty and you want to know it is being looked after, you want home watch.

Yes, that is exactly what we do. Most people find us searching for something like “someone to check my house while I am away,” “who checks vacation homes,” or “snowbird home watch near me.” Those all describe home watch. You do not need to know the industry term to pick up the phone.

For most seasonal homes in South Florida, weekly is the standard and it is what we recommend. Humidity, storms and plumbing failures move quickly here. A small leak found within seven days is usually a straightforward repair; the same leak found six weeks later can mean five figures of remediation and mold work. Some insurance policies also specify an inspection interval, so it is worth reading your policy.

Do not switch it off. For a vacant Florida home the widely recommended range is 78 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit, with 82 as the upper limit if you are away for a full season. Temperature is only half of it, because humidity is what actually grows mold. Work by Florida Power & Light and the Florida Solar Energy Center points to keeping indoor relative humidity at or below 62 percent, and humidistats are commonly set around 58 percent. We check the thermostat and look for signs of excess moisture on every visit.

This is one of the most misunderstood risks for seasonal homeowners. Most standard policies contain a vacancy clause that limits or voids coverage once a home has been empty for roughly 30 to 60 consecutive days, commonly excluding water damage, theft, vandalism and glass breakage. Insurers also draw a distinction between a home that is unoccupied and one that is vacant. Please treat this as a prompt to call your own agent rather than as insurance advice, and ask specifically about your vacancy provision. Regular documented home watch visits give you a dated record of your home's condition.

You hear from us straight away. We do not wait for the written report. We photograph what we have found and contact you directly, and if the situation is urgent we act to limit the damage, which can mean shutting off the water supply and, with your authorization, coordinating the right vendor to attend. You then receive full documentation of the problem and of everything done about it.

Yes. Vendor and contractor access is one of our most-used services. We meet the technician, provide access, stay on site while the work is carried out, secure the home afterwards, and document the visit. It means you never have to hand a key to someone you have not met.

Ahead of a named storm we carry out preparation on the schedule agreed in your plan: securing or storing loose exterior items, checking that openings and shutters are sound, and confirming the home is ready. Once the storm has passed and it is safe to travel, you are in our priority inspection queue. We assess the interior and exterior for damage and document everything photographically, which matters a great deal if a claim needs to be filed.

Latitudes serves Boca Raton, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, along with Highland Beach, Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge, Manalapan, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Palm Beach and Deerfield Beach. That covers seasonal and snowbird homes in gated and waterfront neighbourhoods throughout the corridor. If you are not sure whether your home is in our area, call Christie on 561-980-0770 and ask.

Latitudes is licensed and insured, and Christie Stone is trained through the National Home Watch Association. Just as importantly, this is not a franchise with rotating staff. Christie is the person who visits your home and the person you call. That continuity is the entire point: someone who knows your property and notices when something has changed.