Frequently Asked Questions
If you have a question that isn’t answered here, or if you’d like to speak with an Eldredge Property Services representative about your unique home watch or concierge needs, please call 781-910-5901 or send us a note here.
So many things can happen to your home in your absence: break-ins, water leaks, frozen pipes, electrical problems, insects, mold, and storms to name a few. Conversely, preventive measures such as storm preparation and proactive maintenance should prevent many situations from arising. Even if you have a trusted neighbor or relative nearby, having a professional who is insured, licensed, bonded and accredited acting on your behalf is a much more reliable and effective option. EPS is licensed by the Massachusetts State Police to provide home watch services. License # LW0348A.
Many people understandably ask their friends, family or neighbors to “keep an eye” on their house or “house sit” their home while they are away. But there are many reasons why this can be bad for your home, and bad for your relationship.
- What if a small problem is overlooked and becomes a big problem?
- Do you want to burden your friendly relationships with the time, stress or responsibility that comes with watching your home while you are away having fun?
- Do they enjoy meeting service providers and overseeing any work that needs to be done to your home?
- Everyone has their own commitments and in hectic times like during ice, snow, rain and wind storms your house could be forgotten or ignored.
- Do you want to share access to your private things?
- Are these house sitters licensed, practiced, insured and bonded?
- Do they have trusted home professional resources to help you tackle any issues that arise?
- Can you trust them not to entertain in your home?
- Don’t you want the peace of mind that everything in your home is in excellent working order, in its place, exactly the way you left it?
- House sitters or neighbors will not complete “to do” task lists while you are away, but a property manager will finish small handyman projects so you return home to a house with these tasks completed.
Trust a licensed and insured home watch professional like Eldredge Property Services.
Yes. Eldredge Property Services is insured, bonded and licensed by the state of Massachusetts for Watch Guard Patrol. License # LW0348A.
EPS is not a property management company nor are we a licensed home inspection service for the purpose of buying or selling a property. We are not a licensed construction general contractor. We provide “home watch” and home concierge services only.
We often say that we are your eyes and ears on your home when you can’t be. We conduct approximately 6 visits per month and conduct our 25-Point Check in and around your home to ensure that everything is working as it should.
After each property visit, we send a detailed home watch report documenting our findings at your house. Our thorough 25-point checklist ensures we don’t miss a thing!
We will inform you of any apparent or potential problems at your house and offer suggestions to remedy them. We are experts at handling unforeseen issues and will take care of getting them fixed while you are away. Any costs involved with unforeseen issues are separate from the Home Watch service, but will be presented to you for your consideration. Nothing gets done without your consent.
We have saved homeowners thousands of dollars by uncovering issues in a timely manner. Of course storm damage is common: trees being down, power going out, wind damage, etc, but we have found valves releasing on hot water tanks (one time in August), valves releasing on toilets, and we even walked in to find a squirrel running around the inside of a home.
The tasks as a Home Concierge vary in nature, but the more common requests are stocking the refrigerator, collecting or forwarding packages, prepping for an arrival back home with patio furniture in place, windows washed and the planters seasonally planted, meeting a service person, etc. However, we’ve encountered a fair share of unique requests like delivering cars, getting keys for an antique car replicated, shipping airplane ‘pants.’ We aim to make your life easier, so if there’s something that you need, just simply ask and we will, most likely, be able to take care of it.
Our rates are very reasonable but depend on the individual request and whether or not we are in an active Home Watch contract (or if it is a one-time request). Upon asking, we will present you with a quote specific to the task.
We typically can turn around requests very quickly, but timing is relative to the complexity of the request.
Many times we will need to accessorize or fill in a space with a few items not already owned by you: For instance, a tall plant or the perfect mirror. If this happens, we have a limited supply of pieces we can lend you to round out the space, and / or we will provide you with our suggestions and offer an itemized cost for the additional items.
The typical home staging project is hard to estimate without assessing your particular home, but the cost is often made back through the higher sales price warranted from a staged home.
While not a guarantee, staging is known to make your home more attractive to buyers and tends to result in higher market prices and quicker sales times.
Each move is different in scope and size, but most commonly, we wrap and pack everything in the house into boxes, coordinate the moving company, finish punch lists to help the house close and arrange donations and dump runs for unwanted items. Think of us as your trusted partner to help you accomplish your move.
It depends on the size of the move and the tasks needed. We are happy to evaluate your property and provide you with a free estimate. Please click here to get started.
We work with professional movers to actually move the furniture, but we are happy to line them up and pack things for them so the move goes more smoothly.
This is a common situation for us. Oftentimes, adult children live far away from their parents and need to facilitate a move on their behalf. We are the perfect team to help in this situation. Our “can do” attitude and empathetic nature help to make the process the best it can possibly be.
