If you’re a seasonal home owner, chief among your concerns is how to protect your home away from home when you’re not in residence. Enter The Watchdog property managers and home-security pros, founded and operated by East End native Tommy Panebianco in 2022.
Serving clients from Remsenburg to Montauk, Panebianco says the company, whose primary clients are second homeowners and rental properties, provides a full suite of services from just keeping an eye on things to prepping a home for a arrival—whether that’s the home owner coming back in for a visit or the season, or a short-term rental guest.
His team of nearly 20 is well versed in security, handyman and housekeeping tasks but also contracting and emergency services — an added value he thinks helps distinguish Watchdog in the booming market of all-things home management. A former agent, Panebianco holds a real estate license and is able to help homeowners procure qualified tenants for rentals and his business partner Andriy Pozdniakov holds a general contracting license, enabling him to assist with on the spot repairs and emergency services.
“We have the capacity to not only look after your home but to address most any issue that may arise,” he says.
Southforker: What was your inspiration for putting together this unique “one stop shopping” suite of services?
Tommy Panebianco: I come from a background of real estate and my partner comes from a background of emergency services, like mold, water, fire, flood, restoration work. So, I had the real estate mind for the rental and the tenant end and he has the mind of anything that happens at the property, he can put it back together and fix it. Together we identify issues before they become a real problem. There are two dynamics: watching a home and taking care of it and we really have both of them. And, we’re young, motivated, hungry, caring, thoughtful and are doing what we love.
SF: How has the real estate/home sector changed since you were an agent and now a property management entrepreneur?
TP: What has happened is not so new—it’s just the nature of the Hamptons, which is just a very secondary home market. But it just really kind of exploded due to the fluidity of people’s lives. They’re just all over the world now, with different residences in different places, and they’re able to work from different parts of the country and world with the ability to rent their homes short term. Our clients are different types of people and personalities and that’s the nature of the Hamptons.
SF: How do you distinguish yourself among the many companies in this field?
TP: We see a lot of builders and people that are handy, or retired cops who are hired to keep an eye on things, but they really don’t know about procuring tenants, or what they need and when or, how to properly stage a home and check people in and prepare a tenant’s welcome. Most companies have one or the other, but we have it all covered.
We look at our service like a membership. We don’t bind anyone: It’s month to month and we’re going to keep caring for your home, being there week over week, responding to client needs and helping to care for the home. But if people need to take a pause because they’re selling the house or moving in full time, they can pause and we’ll be there when they come back.
SF: Anything else sets you apart?
TP: We have a whole app-based platform so our clients have access to their service history and can access info, invoices, proposals, photos, videos, everything that’s going on with their property. They actually see photos and videos of what we’re doing and it’s really a fantastic medium to share things when people are so far away and need to know still what’s going on with their property. It’s been really great for us in communicating a lot of things we have going on. We really enjoy it, and we think sets us apart.
SF: What do you like doing in your spare time?
TP: I have an amazing, beautiful fiancée: We have been engaged since the summer. We have a couple of pups that we really love to spend our time with and go to the beach, especially Ponquogue Beach in Hampton Bays, and the inlet. I love to fish and golf and I love to snowboard. But I’m so passionate and loving about all the things that we do that it doesn’t really feel like work as much … it’s not really something I need to escape from with hobbies
