Inside a Northern Michigan Home Watch Visit: What We Actually Check
Slowly operating the home's main water shutoff valve in a utility / mechanical area.
Maybe you've been looking for someone to check on your house while you're away.
Maybe you’re trying to find someone to watch your house over the winter, check your second home from time to time or keep an eye on your Northern Michigan property when you can’t be there yourself.
You may have searched the internet or ChatGPT for a house sitter, a caretaker or a property manager. You may have simply searched for “someone to check my house while I’m away.”
There’s another term worth knowing: Home Watch
Home Watch is a scheduled visual check of your home while you’re away.
It isn’t house sitting.
It isn’t property management.
It isn’t a home inspection.
The purpose is to physically be at the property, pay attention to what’s happening, document what was observed and communicate anything that may need your attention.
So what actually happens during a Home Watch visit?
Every home is different, and the visit should reflect that.
We Start With Your Home and Your Instructions
A lake home that remains heated through the winter may be handled differently than a property that has been winterized.
Some homes have water shut off when the owner is away. Others keep the water on.
Some have well systems, water treatment equipment, pumps or other mechanical systems that need to be understood before a visit begins.
Your instructions matter.
A Home Watch visit isn't about walking into every property and doing the exact same thing in the exact same order.
It’s about knowing how your home is supposed to be operating and then paying attention to whether what we find matches those expectations.
That starts with understanding the property and your instructions.
Water. Water. Water.
If the water off in between Home Watch visits, and instructions call for doing so, one of the first things we do is slowly open the main water valve.
There’s a reason for doing this slowly.
We don’t want to ram the system with a bunch of water all at once.
Secondly, we open it slowly so we can listen. Shhhh. Can you hear that? Ha!
Normally, water will flow into the system until it becomes fully pressurized. Then the water stops, usually after just a few seconds of time.
If water continues running when it shouldn’t, there may be an open faucet or fixture. There could also be another reason for continued water flow that deserves investigation.
That doesn’t automatically mean there is a major leak.
It means something is happening that shouldn’t be ignored.
If the water is supposed to remain off, we don’t turn it on simply because it’s part of some generic checklist. The instructions for your home determine how that portion of the visit is handled.
Then We Check the Outside
When the plumbing is under pressure and does not provide any initial thoughts of there being a problem, the exterior portion of the visit can provide another opportunity to notice something unusual.
Walking around the property, we’re looking at the home and its surroundings rather than simply checking a box that says “exterior inspected.”
That can include looking for visible signs of:
• Water or moisture where it shouldn’t be
• Storm damage
• Downed branches or other debris
• Problems around doors and windows
• Signs of unauthorized entry
• Conditions that appear different from what would normally be expected
Northern Michigan weather can change conditions around a property quickly. A heavy storm, high winds, freezing temperatures or other weather can leave things looking very different from the last time someone was there.
The point of the visit is to notice those changes.
Back Inside we Go!
We Keep Looking and…
The Sequence Matters.
Before operating a faucet, we look inside the sinks, tubs and showers and the surrounding areas.
A wet sink before the faucet has been operated tells us something.
It tells us that water was flowing when it shouldn’t have been.
It may be just a few drops, but a sink should be 100% dry before the faucet is opened. That makes sense, right?
If this happens, we note it.
It may be a failing faucet, a gasket gone bad, loose fitting, etc.
If it’s a simple screw that needs to be tightened, we can handle that. If it appears more complicated, it will take a licensed professional to fully diagnose the situation.
If the instructions call for the water to be on during a home visit, we inspect with the system operating as it normally would be used if the home were occupied. It serves a few practical purposes when the home's instructions call for the system to remain active. Toilets can be flushed, fixtures can be operated, drain traps can be refreshed to keep gases out of the house.
It keeps things moving
Allows fixtures to be operated
Gives us another opportunity to notice something unusual.
If the instructions call for the water to be turned off, we don't simply make that decision ourselves. We follow those instructions. The same is true throughout the rest of the house.
We're not just moving from room to room looking for something that looks wrong. We're observing the condition of the home, operating systems, fixtures and appliances when appropriate and paying attention to what changes — or doesn't change — from each visit.
That sequence matters because a Home Watch visit is about more than being physically present in the house. It's about paying attention to what the house is telling us.
We Look Beyond the Water
A Home Watch visit isn't just about finding a plumbing problem.
Depending on the home a visit may include checking:
Interior temperature and humidity
Thermostat settings and heating conditions
Visible signs of water intrusion or moisture
Unusual odors
Doors and windows
Electrical panels
HVAC equipment
Water treatment systems
Pumps and other accessible mechanical systems
Other visible conditions that appear unusual or out of place
Pest infestation
None of this is about diagnosing a specific mechanical system or performing a repair.
It’s about observation.
You’re not asking someone to take apart your furnace or determine exactly why a pump has stopped working. You’re asking someone to be there, look carefully and tell you when something doesn't appear right.
That distinction matters.
Before We Head Out. W.L.D.A
What the, huh?
Water - We make sure we leave the water in the On or Off position it supposed to be left at when away.
Lights - We turn on or off the lights as instructed.
Doors - We lock all the doors
Alarm - we set the alarm.
We Document What We Find
A quick stop at the house by your neighbor and a professional Home Watch visit are two different things.
If someone tells you, “Everything looks fine,” that may be reassuring. But you’re still left with a basic question:
What did they actually see?
Documentation provides a better answer.
Photos and written notes create a record of what was observed during the visit. If something appears unusual, that information can be communicated to you so you can decide what needs to happen next.
Sometimes the answer is simple: nothing needs to be done. That's important information, too.
Most visits should not result in a crisis.
The value is in having someone physically check the property on a scheduled basis and give you a clear account of what was found.
Another quick comment: scheduled home visits can help document when things did or didn’t happen. That might be important if there is ever an insurance claim.
What Home Watch Is — and What It Isn't
If you’ve been searching online for a house sitter, this is different.
House Sitters sit on your couch, eat off your plates, sleep in your bed and shower in your bathroom. That may be right for some people, but that’s not what we are talking about here. That’s different from Home Watch.
If you’re looking for a property manager, you may need someone responsible for ongoing property operations, maintenance or management, collecting rent, dealing with tenants, etc. That’s different, too.
Home Watch is also not a licensed home inspection, and it isn't a repair service either.
The purpose is straightforward:
make scheduled visits to an unoccupied or vacant home
look for visible conditions that may need attention
document what was observed and
communicate the results.
If something needs attention, the next step may involve contacting an appropriate professional. When included in the Home Watch service, access or vendor coordination can move that process along quickly.
The Visit Has a Purpose
When you’re away from your Northern Michigan home, there’s a simple problem:
You can't see what’s happening there.
You may have cameras.
You may have a smart thermostat.
You may have a neighbor who is willing to stop by.
Those things can all be useful.
But none of them changes the fact that someone needs to physically be there to see, smell and hear the condition of the home for themselves.
After all, a camera could see the mouse run across the floor, but can it see the nest in the upstairs closet?
Can a camera empty the mouse-traps in the garage and re-set them?
Can the camera smell the strange odor coming from the mechanical room in the basement?
That is what a Home Watch visit provides.
Someone shows up.
Someone pays attention.
Someone documents clearly.
Someone communicates reliably.
There’s nothing dramatic about that. In fact, most visits should be pretty uneventful. That’s a good thing.
BORING IS GOOD.
The goal isn't to find something wrong just so there’s something to report. The goal is to know what is happening with your home while you’re away.
If you started out searching for “someone to check on my house while I’m gone,” Home Watch may be the term you were looking for.
And a good Home Watch visit should leave you with something simple:
You know your home was checked.
You know what was found.
And you know if there’s anything you need to do next.
Your home is precious…and we treat it that way.