The Virtual Vacation Home

Second-Home Owners 'Visit' Via Webcams; Spying on Guests, Monitoring the Pool Guy
By JUNE FLETCHER

Helena Peterson's favorite show these days depicts shadows flickering on artwork and furniture in a deserted dining room.
It's not an avant-garde production but a Webcam view of the vacation house that Ms. Peterson bought last year in Southport, N.C. Using a computer at her primary home in Ellsworth, Maine, she monitors the house in the tiny fishing town via an Internet connection. Though there's little to see she says she finds it mesmerizing -- and a way to spend time, at least virtually, in her second home while stuck at her first one. "It's a fantasy experience," says Ms. Peterson, a public-health program director.
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WSJ's June Fletcher discusses how owners of vacation homes are using webcams and other home-monitoring devices to spy on their tenants.
As Webcams and other home-monitoring devices become smaller, cheaper and easier to install, some people have become voyeurs of their own vacation homes. While the ostensible purpose of the cameras is to monitor for intruders, some people use them to check up on the lawn guy or cleaning service, spy on visiting relatives or renters, or simply daydream about a place they'd rather be.
Last November, Tim Duchene installed a Webcam on the patio of the ocean-view condo that he and his wife, Carolyn, bought on Maui, Hawaii, three years ago. He intended to use it as a marketing tool to attract renters, but finds himself checking it daily to watch storms, see the palm trees sway and track the ash clouds given off by distant volcanoes. Because airfares have skyrocketed, the Aliso Viejo, Calif., couple gets to the island only half as often as before. The Webcam is a bit of a compensation, says Mr. Duchene, a technology executive.
Bruce Macpherson
Second-home owners often plug Webcams into an old PC or laptop they keep turned on and connected to the Internet. Other Webcams can link up to the Internet directly via WiFi or a cable. Basic Webcams cost as little as $10, though makers put out far more expensive ones with more capabilities. WowWee Ltd. and iRobot say they'll soon launch Webcam-topped robots that can roam about the house while sending pictures, then dock themselves at a base for recharging.
Using a $10.95-a-month Web service called Rogo, Bill Edwards of Raleigh, N.C., checks out the doings at his Wrightsville Beach, N.C., vacation home several times a day -- from his office, his home, even his car. "I'm spending way more time on this than I should," he admits. The real-estate broker has his weatherproof Webcam mounted outside his house and focused on his backyard, where he can keep an eye on his new 27-foot boat and watch visiting grandkids play. And since he can check out his house live on his iPhone, it's also a great way to show it off to his friends, he says.
WowWee says its planned Wi-Fi robotic camera, Rovio, will roam houses.
Other systems are more complex and costly. Alarm.com provides wireless Internet cameras as part of elaborate home security and monitoring setups. Customers can remotely arm or disarm the system or set up temporary access codes for service people. Such dealer-installed systems typically cost $300 to $1,000, depending on how many sensors are used, with monthly monitoring fees of $30 to $46.
Webcams sometimes catch questionable behavior. Using his Alarm.com camera, Tom Tweit in South St. Paul, Minn., saw teenage houseguests standing by the front door of his Orlando, Fla., vacation home sharing a suspicious-looking pipe. The retired electrician contacted the teens' parents and the youths left the house.
Most of the time, Webcams are put to more mundane uses. Interior designer Louis Cohen says he uses cameras to cut down on the amount of time he needs to spend for maintenance reasons at his pied-a-terre in Philadelphia and a family retreat in Aventura, Fla. With Webcams posted at entrances he can see whether landscapers, pool cleaners, deliverymen and other service people show up when they say they will -- and once caught a no-show dog walker this way. "They don't know they're being watched," says Mr. Cohen, whose main home also is in Aventura.
Above, Logitech's QuickCam Vision Pro is one of many Webcams on the market. Below, IRobot, maker of robotic floor cleaners, also plans a roving Webcam device, ConnectR.
But watching other people without their knowledge in a private home -- or even in a backyard not visible from a public street -- can pose legal issues, says David Elder, a professor of law at Northern Kentucky University and author of "Privacy Torts." Mr. Elder says homeowners, especially those who rent out their houses, should refrain from pointing Webcams towards interior spaces -- particularly bedrooms and bathrooms, which people expect to be private. "People do bizarre and strange things in leased apartments," he says. Cameras should be revealed to tenants and guests, preferably in writing, he adds.
Ross Twiddy, a property manager who oversees 780 houses on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, promotes wireless security systems that also allow remote control of water heaters and air conditioning. But he says he draws the line at cameras due to privacy concerns.
In February, Tamara Cowen placed a Webcam aimed at a beach used by renters of her nine vacation cabins at Big Wood Lake in Jackman, Maine. She installed the $500 weatherproof camera both as a marketing tool and to quell the curiosity of would-be renters who constantly ask her about the weather. Worried about how renters would respond to being watched, she posted a sign pointing out the Webcam's presence and an offer to take it down should anyone object. No one has -- in fact, one renter used it to wave to envious co-workers while he was on vacation, while another posted a sign on the beach asking his brother to hurry up and join him at the cabin, she says.
John Scott had Webcams installed as part of security system overhauls both in his primary home in College Park, Md., and the vacation home that he and his wife, Anne, bought in May in Port Aransascq, Texas. Together, the alarm systems cost $3,200, plus monthly monitoring fees. But the expense is worth it, he says. When he's in Maryland, knowing that his Texas property isn't being damaged by storms gives him peace of mind. Yet he's also found it surprisingly soothing while in Texas to watch the trees rustle gently and sunlight flit across the yard of his Maryland house. "It relaxes me, so I really feel like I'm on vacation," he says.
Write to June Fletcher at june.fletcher@wsj.com