Luxury Home Sitting Guide for Palm Beach County's Affluent Communities: 12 Checks Every Visit Should Cover

Owner Guide · Luxury Home Sitting and Home Watch · Palm Beach County, FL

By Jean Taveras, Broker-Owner, Atlis Property Management · Updated October 2026

Many of Palm Beach County's most valuable homes sit closed for part of every year. The home does not stop working when they leave. The air conditioning still has to hold the humidity down, the irrigation still runs, the pool still needs chemistry, and hurricane season still arrives on schedule.

This guide explains what luxury home sitting should cover, how it differs from property management, how often visits should happen, and what to ask before you hand anyone your keys. It closes with a 12-point checklist you can use to judge any provider, including us. For the broader comparison, see our guide to home watch versus property management in Florida.

Home Sitting, Home Watch, and Property Management: What Each One Is

Owners use these terms loosely, and the services behind them are very different. The table below separates them by who is in the house and what the provider is responsible for.

Home watch is the right fit when the house stays yours and stays private. If you are weighing a lease instead, our guide to luxury property management in Palm Beach County covers what renting a high-end home involves.

Why a Closed House in Palm Beach County Needs Eyes on It

An empty house in South Florida is not a low-risk asset. Heat and humidity work on it every day, and nobody is there to notice when something changes. The problems that do the most damage to closed homes tend to start small and grow quietly:

• Humidity and mold. If the air conditioning fails in summer, indoor humidity climbs and mold can follow on drywall, cabinetry, fabrics, and art. Our guide to mold issues in Florida homes explains the conditions that let it take hold.
• Hidden water leaks. A supply line under a sink, a toilet fill valve, a water heater, or an ice maker line can run for weeks before anyone sees the ceiling stain.
• Electrical failures. A tripped breaker can take out the air conditioner, the pool pump, or the refrigerator, and nothing tells you it happened.
• Storm exposure. Unsecured furniture, shutters that were never closed, and damage nobody photographs until the owner flies back.
• Security. Doors, windows, gates, and alarms need someone to confirm they are secure, not an assumption.
• Vendor drift. Pool, landscape, and pest crews come and go unsupervised, and work slips when nobody checks it.

The stakes are high. As of October 7, 2026, PBP Real Estate reported that houses that closed in Jupiter from January 1 through September 30 sold at a median $1,069,000, in Palm Beach Gardens at $1,100,000, and in Boca Raton at $1,049,300. Protecting them is the whole point of home sitting.

The 12-Point Visit Checklist

A good visit is a full walk-through, not a glance from the driveway. Use this list to judge any home watch provider. Each visit should cover:

1. Entry and security. Doors, locks, windows, sliders, and gates secure; alarm armed and working; no signs of forced entry.
2. Air conditioning. System running, thermostat at the agreed setting, air handler area dry, condensate line draining.
3. Humidity. Indoor humidity checked against the target you set, with attention to closets, bathrooms, and wine or art storage.
4. Plumbing. Faucets and toilets run so traps do not dry out; under-sink cabinets checked for moisture; no running toilets.
5. Water heater and main shutoff. Water heater area dry; the main water shutoff located and accessible, so it can be closed fast in an emergency.
6. Electrical panel. No tripped breakers; refrigerators, freezers, and pool equipment powered.
7. Ceilings, walls, and floors. Room-by-room look for stains, bubbling paint, warped wood, or odors that point to a leak or mildew.
8. Pests. Signs of ants, roaches, rodents, or termites, especially at sliders, garages, and kitchens.
9. Roofline and drainage. From grade: missing tiles or shingles, clogged gutters, standing water near the foundation.
10. Pool and irrigation. Water level and clarity, equipment running, irrigation zones not flooding or dry.
11. Vendor work. Pool, landscape, pest, and cleaning work actually done to scope, with any issues noted.
12. Mail, packages, and notices. Nothing accumulating at the door; association, utility, or code notices flagged to you.

Ask to see a sample visit note before you sign.

How Often Should Someone Visit?

Frequency should match how fast problems develop, not how often it is convenient to drive by. In a humid climate, a failed air conditioner or a slow leak can do real damage within days, which is why a single monthly visit leaves a long window for small problems to become large ones. Four quick door checks that end in a phone call to an owner a thousand miles away are worth less than fewer full walk-throughs that end in the problem being handled.

Two other documents should shape the schedule. First, your homeowner insurance policy: read it for any vacancy or unoccupancy conditions and ask your agent what visit frequency and records it expects while you are away. Second, your association's rules: many gated communities have their own procedures for vendor access, guest passes, and storm preparation. Owners who leave each summer will also find our checklist for preparing a home before a summer exit useful.

Storm Season for an Empty House

Hurricane preparation is where home sitting earns its keep. An occupied home has someone to bring in the patio furniture and close the shutters. A closed home has only the plan you made before you left. That plan should answer, in writing:

• Who secures outdoor furniture, planters, and fixtures, and how much notice they need.
• Who installs shutters or confirms impact protection is closed, and who takes them down afterward.
• Who walks the home after the storm, how soon, and how the photos reach you.
• Which vendors are on call for water extraction, roof tarping, and power restoration.

The Palm Beach County Division of Emergency Management publishes current storm guidance and evacuation information. For the owner's side of preparation, see our 2026 hurricane preparation guide and our article on hurricane insurance and shutters.

Vendors, Access, and Keys

Most closed homes still have a steady stream of visitors: the pool service, landscapers, pest control, cleaners, and the occasional contractor. Each one is a person with access to your home, and each one is doing work you are paying for but not seeing. Good oversight means:

• A written access list. Who holds keys, gate access, and alarm codes, and when each was issued.
• A written scope for each vendor. What they do, how often, and how they report.
• Verification. Someone confirms the pool is balanced and the lawn was cut, rather than assuming it.
• Insurance on file. Every vendor who works in or on the home carries current coverage.
• Code changes. When a vendor relationship ends, the codes change the same week.

For more on choosing trades, read our guide to vetting a contractor in Palm Beach County.

Home Sitting or Seasonal Rental?

Some owners of seasonal homes consider renting them while they are away. Furnished rentals are a large share of the coastal markets. As of October 7, 2026, PBP Real Estate reported that 81% of Palm Beach rental listings, 67% of Juno Beach listings, and 68% of Jupiter listings were furnished, and that furnished units in Jupiter asked 92% more than unfurnished units of similar size.

Those figures describe asking rents, not signed leases, and renting is a different decision from home sitting. A lease means someone else living with your furnishings, association approval in many communities, and rental restrictions that can rule out short stays entirely. Rentals of 6 months or less also carry transient rental tax and registration duties. Our comparison of short-term and long-term leases sets out that math.

Common Mistakes Owners Make With a Closed Seasonal Home

• Relying on a drive-by. Most damage in a closed house happens inside, where nobody can see it from the street.
• Turning the air conditioning off or setting it too high. Agree on a setting that controls humidity, and have someone confirm it is holding.
• Not knowing where the main water shutoff is. If nobody can find it in an emergency, a leak runs longer than it should.
• Hiring the cheapest visit. Ask what happens when the visitor finds a problem. If the answer is that they call you, the work of fixing it is still yours.
• Leaving the storm plan unwritten. Shutters, furniture, and post-storm checks need named people and agreed timing.
• Letting vendors run on autopilot. Unsupervised work slips, and unchanged codes outlive the vendors who held them.

How Atlis Approaches Home Watch and Estate Care

Atlis is a licensed Florida real estate brokerage, broker-owner led from our office on PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens, serving owners across Palm Beach County. Our home watch and estate care service is built on one idea: finding a problem is the easy part, and what matters is what happens in the next hour. As described on that page, every plan includes two full walk-throughs a month, a written note from the person who was in the house after every visit, the same person on your home each time, and pre-storm and named-storm advisories. Repairs are arranged through our licensed vendors and invoiced at cost, with no markups.

If a scheduled visit does not happen inside its window, the month is credited, with an exception for named storms and conditions outside our control. If you reach us during business hours and four hours pass without a reply from a person who knows your house, that month is free. Nothing reaches an invoice that was not quoted to you first. Only Atlis personnel enter the home, and higher plans add vendor coordination, hurricane preparation, and arrival and departure preparation. Pricing is published on the page, and every engagement starts with a property assessment. Owners who also hold a rental can see the full-service side on our Palm Beach Gardens property management page.

Frequently Asked Questions

A closed house is only as safe as the last person who walked through it. If you want to talk through what your home needs while you are away, we are glad to start with a property assessment.