With residents considering if they should travel or not this summer, share this blog with them to ensure the safety of the community and their housing. 

CDC Travel Guidelines

Protect yourself and others during your trip:

• Clean your hands often.‍
• Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after you have been in a public place, after touching surfaces frequently touched by others, after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing, and before touching your face or eating.
• If soap and water are not available, bring and use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub your hands together until they feel dry.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
• Avoid close contact with others
• Keep 6 feet of physical distance from others.‍
• Wear a cloth face covering in public.
• Cover coughs and sneezes.
• Pick up food at drive-throughs, curbside restaurant service, or stores.

(May 22, 2020, Content source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Viral Diseases) 

Do you have furry friends? 

Make arrangements for your pets with a lodging center, or with a local pet sitter.  If you plan on using a stay at home service, make sure your pet sitter is familiar with the Association’s pet policies and properly pick up behind your furry friends while you are gone.  

Plan ahead to pay your mortgage and utilities.

The last thing that anyone wants to think about is paying a mortgage and utilities, but offer tenants the ability to pay ahead of time if they are traveling over the summer. 

Set your thermostat, and close your blinds and curtains.

To help your resident save money, ask them to set their thermostat to a higher, but tolerable, temperature while they’re away. They can close the blinds to keep the sunshine out. 

Let management know you will be gone.

Have your residents inform you that they are traveling for a long period of time and leave an emergency contact. There could be something that comes up such as a maintenance disaster, or their mail piling up..

Lock all doors and windows.

Have your resident check that all their doors and windows are closed, especially the windows on the bottom floor. 

Neighborhood Watch

If the resident feels comfortable, they can ask a neighbor to keep an eye on their house while they’re gone with spare keys.