Lifestyles of the Rich and Internet Savvy

You think it's easy managing multiple homes? It's all about making good checklists and keeping up on tasks. Taxes? Check. Insurance? Check. Guests using the house for the weekend? Check. Who was that terrific plumber we used last year? You get the idea.

And with 40 percent of all homes purchased in the U.S. now second homes, there's a burgeoning industry for home management. Home Concierge is a web service designed to help multiple-home owners list, plan, and organize their lives in multiple locations.

The company was founded by a mother/daughter team. Mom, Jolynn Blair, realizing that a management tool would be incredibly useful, asked her more technically inclined daughter to help build it. The fact that Dad, Mike Blair, created and sold a large HR payroll company, Cyborg, didn't hurt, either. He knew how to build safe, reliable databases.

Home Concierge has an upscale look and plenty of room for you to enter all of your homes (color-coded, too). It costs $100 a year, with a three-month free trial period. Your subscription gives you a secure area on the company's web site where you can work through the lists in your life: everything from maintenance schedules (exterior, interior, vehicles, and personal items), to your personal calendar, to medical information. You'll find templates for grocery lists, instructions seasonal instructions like winterizing, home inventory with photos, and more.

A cross between a calendar/organizer and a home database, the information is entered in clean templates with ample space to note the names and numbers of everyone from the gardener to the homeowners' association. Home Concierge databases sync with your Outlook calendar, PDA, or BlackBerry. A special version is available for personal assistants and real estate management.

Of course you don't need multiple homes to get organized, but it sure helps you get a bigger bang from your $100 fee.