June Is When the Condo Needs Attention

Every year I think I'm on top of the Naples condo. And every year, mid-June arrives and I realize I've been ignoring about eight things simultaneously.

This week I finally dealt with it. Not dramatically. Just a few hours of logging and scheduling and checking things off from Minneapolis, which is the only way I manage a property I'm not standing inside.

The hurricane shutters got their annual maintenance done on June 16. That was $118, which I logged in epBode under the Naples Getaway. I also updated the "Hurricane Shutter Inspection" schedule while I was in there, because the whole point of tracking it is so next June I don't spend twenty minutes trying to remember when it was last done. The HOA dues hit the same day. $620. I log it every time partly because I want the record and partly because seeing it in one place with everything else makes it feel less like money disappearing into a void.

The filter in the master bedroom got changed on June 18. I added "Deep-clean dryer vent" and got that done too. And then I added "Test smoke detectors" on June 19, which is still sitting there. Honestly, smoke detectors are the task that always feels lower priority than it is. I know they matter. I'll get it scheduled.

The thing I actually felt good about this week: the water heater. I'd added "Flush water heater" to the Naples Getaway task list on June 16 and it was marked complete on June 17. That's a fast turnaround for a task I used to let sit for months before I'd even remember it existed. We're down there in February. The last thing I want is a surprise in a condo we check on maybe four times a year.

I also updated the "AC Service" schedule while I was in the condo's section of the app. Florida AC in summer is not optional maintenance. I want that on a real schedule, not a vague "we should probably do this soon" that lives in my head for six months.

None of this is exciting. But June in Florida means hurricane season and heat and a property sitting empty, and I'd rather spend two hours logging things now than get a call in August about something I could have caught in June. That's pretty much the whole philosophy.