Nothing can be more exciting than departing on that long-awaited vacation trip. But as you lock up and board your taxi, you feel a slight apprehension weighing on you. How secure will your house be when you’re gone? Will you find all your belongings as you left them?
You have probably heard a tale or two about a family that went on a couple of weeks’ excursion and returned to find their house broken into. You may live in what is classified as a secure neighborhood, but you shouldn’t leave anything to chance. Every year, more than a million homes in the U.S. are burgled.
There are a number of measures you can take to ensure you don’t become part of that grim statistic. They range from simply double-checking your locks before you leave to installing a security alarm system and ensuring any necessary gate repairs are up to date. Taking time to implement these measures will give you the extra peace of mind you need to enjoy your getaway.
Preparing in Unexpected Ways
Your home security measures should start with common sense, cost-free initiatives like leaving the lights on to give the impression there’s somebody home and not announcing to the world that you will be away. The measures can then go into more sophisticated realms.
You can invest in smart locks for your doors that allow you to open and lock your house from wherever you are. This is a much more secure option than leaving a spare key under the welcome mat for your cleaner or the neighbor helping to feed your pets.
A video doorbell will raise an alert whenever someone comes ringing and capture footage for future reference. Advanced versions come with motion detection so that any movement around your front porch is captured and sent to your smartphone. Or you could invest in a fully-fledged CCTV system with strategically placed cameras showing you every angle of your home in real-time.
Personalizing Security
When thinking about securing your home, it’s best to think about individual measures you can put in place and how you can adopt as many measures to suit your individual security needs.
Depending on where your house is located, the specific risks prevalent in that locality and the security features already in place, you will want to come up with a combination of measures that holistically addresses your security challenges. Below are some of the aspects that your security solution should address:
Fire
You may have all your smart locks, alarms and remote surveillance in place to ward off burglars, but do you have any protection against accidental fires? You can take simple measures before you leave to prevent such eventualities. Ensure all appliances are turned off and unplugged before you lock up.
Surveillance
You should be able to monitor what is happening at your home at any time of day or night from wherever you are. For this reason, you need to invest in a state-of-the-art home surveillance system that is linked to your WiFi.
Such a system will relay high-resolution images from your home to your mobile device in real-time. It will also back up footage to the cloud, allowing you to download and review the day’s happenings at your leisure.
Insurance
In the event the unthinkable happens and burglars penetrate your defenses, what happens? Helpful neighbors may report the incident and alert the police, but it may be too late by the time they arrive. And if investigation fails to lead to recovery of your household items, you will have to start from scratch. If your home also doubles up as your office, the magnitude of the loss can be devastating.
Insurance will compensate you for your loss, repair any damage to the house, and reimburse you for destroyed or stolen contents. The extent to which be reimbursed will depend on the kind of policy you opt for. This is why you should seek expert advice as you compare home insurance quotes from various providers.
Neighborhood Watch
If you haven’t made an effort to get to know your neighbors, your security is a good reason you should do so. You’ll only feel comfortable asking your neighbor to keep an eye on your house while you’re away if you say hi from time to time.
Your trusted neighbor can help you check on your doors, locks and window panes to see if there are any signs that someone tried to break in.
Keep it Tidy
An unkempt lawn and hedges can cue nefarious individuals into the fact that you’ve been away for a while. So hiring someone to keep your yard tidy while you’re away to avoid giving away such hints is definitely worthwhile.
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- 6 Tips to Secure Your Home Before Going on Vacation
- How to Improve Home Security
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- How to Protect Your Home Against Intrusion
