”First what are live-in caretakers? To make vacant high-end homes more marketable, some companies provide live-in care-taking services, complete with furniture and accessories. There are benefits for everyone involved, the sales people say. Sellers get their homes professionally staged without having to pay for it or the furniture rental. Not having to rent furniture can mean a savings of $6,000, likely more, a month.
Sellers also don’t have to pay monthly utility bills or for upkeep on the home. They also don’t pay for the live-in care-taking services, although there may be a small fee at time of escrow. Management companies make their money from the fees the live-in managers pay. Potential buyers get to view decorated homes instead of empty ones. They can better visualize how their furniture will look rather than being perplexed by bare rooms that have no personality. Live-in managers get to live in high-end homes for a fraction of the cost. They pay a fee — typically about a third of the cost it would be to rent such a home — to the management company, plus they pay the utilities and yard and pool care.
There are drawbacks. (This is an understatement.)
Live-in caretakers have to keep the homes impeccably clean so that the home can be shown at a 30-minute or hours’ notice. They have to make all the beds every day. Toilet seats must be down. Sinks must be free of debris. Granite kitchen counters must be clear of spots. There can be no clutter. Everything has to look perfect. Managers must leave a home with 30 minutes notice if it is going to be shown to potential buyers.
What happens when the home sells? They generally have up to a month to move. And it’s usually to another for-sale vacant luxury home. The nomadic lifestyle attracts a certain type of person. These homes are good for people in transition, people getting relocated, for people who don’t want a long-term lease at bargain price.
It also attracts people who have gone through bankruptcies, divorces, short sales and foreclosures so they can get their credit together. Most of the managers have previously lived in luxury homes and so have the furnishings to match, but they need a place to live. Being a home caretaker allows them to retain the lifestyle while not having to pay the high price. And they don’t have to pay for a storage unit for their furniture.
These high-end homes are priced at several million dollars. The sizes range from 4,000 to 15,000 square feet and may have unique architectural styles, such as ultra contemporary. Specific styles may take longer to sell, typically in four to five months but may take from two months to a year depending on the market. Caretakers, who must pass background checks, are matched with homes that fit the style of their furnishings.
From my personal experience, sellers may think a temporary live-in caretaker/temporary tenant is a good idea but they are mistaken. Who would not want to save on the utilities, lawn and pool service maintenance and avoid the cost of staging? Staging a luxury home could cost as much as $5,000. I recently hired one of these services because the sellers were short on funds and I was trying to save them money while their $500,000 Tempe home was up for sale. I checked references of the caretaker service I used but it did not help. The tenant did not keep the house clean, properly maintain the pool or take care of the landscaping. When I needed to get people in to see the house it was a fight – not the promised 30-minute notice. Here is the story.
Arrangements were made several days in advance for the buyer (who was coming in from out of town) to see the house. The tenant cancelled at the last minute at 7AM. The service was no help in getting the tenant to comply because they don’t answer their phones until 9AM and there is no emergency number. During the process of trying to gain access to the house, the tenant became very confrontational. Now I had an angry tenant living in an expensive house with my staging items. Images of the potential damage she could do were running through my head and they were not pretty.
I had staged the house with my personal staging items. When the tenant left she took some of my staging items, had damaged some of them, had not done the landscaping and the house and pool were filthy. There was damage to two bedroom walls which were not repaired. I did not get back the garage door openers or keys. When I asked the service to fix these items or give me compensation so I could take care of them they fought me every step of the way. When I spoke to the care taker owners they were rude, condescending and defensive. They kept pointing out they were not responsible for any damages to the furnishings in the house or cleaning them based on the contract. They complained because dealing with this situation was taking too much of their “personal time”. When I mentioned how much of my “personal time” it was taking they just laughed. I guess they felt their time was more valuable than mine.
It took me over a week to get the landscaping and cleaning completed, other repairs done and the keys and garage door openers back. I probably should have rekeyed the house given the attitude of the tenant, but I was trying to save the sellers money so I did not. Luckily, we closed escrow shortly after the tenant left and the new owners promptly rekeyed the house, as they were aware of the tenant issues.
There is an old saying if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Though these services sound like a good idea they are not. If the service places a problem tenant they do nothing to remedy the situation. Based on my experience, the attitude of the caretaker company owners and the time, money and aggravation it cost me I would not recommend this service to anyone.