Best Tips For Protecting Your Home While On Vacation
With our modern busy lifestyles, it's important to take time to relax and enjoy life with a well-deserved vacation. However, leaving your home unattended for even just a long weekend can be just enough time for a thief to target your home. That is why we here at Montavue have put together some tips to help prevent your next vacation from being spoiled by criminals.
1. Dont Announce Your Vacation On Social Media
We all like to make our co-workers jealous and tell everyone about the amazing places we are going to go. But you may want to restrain your boasting until you return from your trip. Today's thieves are becoming more techno-savvy and will troll the web looking for clues that someone might be leaving for an extended period of time. Now you may be thinking that this doesn't apply to me because my privacy settings are set to friends only. But consider this, maybe one of your friends has an ex-con brother in law who sees or hears about your extended leave and starts getting ideas. Don't think that your privacy settings keep you safe there are many ways a potential thieve can get access to your posts. The best privacy policy is to not share information online that you don't want to be public. Besides keeping everyone in suspense about where you are going will be much more fun and the pay off at the end when you finally reveal where you went will be way better.
2. Install a Surveillance System
Installing security cameras at your home offers the best defense against burglary. Security cameras have been proven to deter criminal activity and provide crucial evidence to law enforcement in the event that you are burglarized. Furthermore, security cameras from Montavue offer an added level of protection with our Intelligent Surveillance Features. These features can allow you to be notified any time someone or something enters an area you define as well as let you know if something has gone missing. Using our MontavueGO app you can get instant notifications on your smartphone when someone approaches your home no matter where you are. This unique feature gives you added peace of mind while you are away, allowing you to enjoy your vacation knowin you will be alerted should anything happen.
3. Keep Your Home Lit Up
Criminals will usually look for homes that are poorly lit outside. If a house has poor lighting it will help them stay unnoticed while breaking into your home. Additionally, thieves will look for homes that have had no interior lights on for a while. This is usually a good indication that the owners are away. Therefore, you will want to at least have an outdoor flood light on. Better still is to make it appear as if someone is home by leaving a light on inside your home. You can even go so far as to confuse criminals by installing smart lights in your home and program them to turn on and off periodically. Many companies sell relatively cheap smart switches so if you don't want to retrofit your current lighting you can purchase a smart switch for a couple of your lamps and achieve the same effect. Having a well-lit home is sure to discourage most would be criminals.
4. Lock it up!
This may sound obvious but surprisingly many people forget to lock or secure windows and doors. Approximately 35% of thieves enter through an unlocked window or door. These are usually places that are less used and therefore you likely won't think about securing them before you leave. Make a conscious effort to check every entrance and window to your home to make sure you have secured all of them. It only takes one open window to allow a burglar easy access into your home. Another common way thieves gain access is by finding your spare key. If you have a spare key that you keep under a rock, planter or doormat consider removing it and giving it to a trusted family member or friend. Criminals are keenly aware that people hide spare keys near their front door so don't give them an easy way in.
5. Install Security signs
Purchasing a security sign like those sold here can let criminals know to look for a different target. If you make it as clear as possible that your home is well protected then most burglars will look for an easier target. Having a sign in your front yard is an easy inexpensive way to advertise that your home is protected. This sends a clear message that a burglar is going to have a much more difficult job breaking into this home and will have a much higher risk of getting caught. This will make them think twice before targetting your home. Most burglars are looking for the easiest target with the least amount of risk. So when they see your sign and then your cameras they will likely move along to the next potential target.
Conclusion
These are just a few tips to help keep your home safe while you are away.There are many other things you can do to help protect your home like removing easily stolen items like lawnmowers etc from view. Sometimes it can help to think like a criminal. Think about if you wanted to steal something from your home how would you do it, what would you look for? Make a list of vulnerable areas and take steps to secure those areas. Installing a professional security system from Montavue is one of the easiest ways to help ensure that you don't get victimized. Then get out there and enjoy your well-deserved vacation.
If your still looking for ways to secure your home while you are traveling then check out this stellar article from our friends over at porch.com. They have put together an extensive list that will not only help protect your home but reduce your stress before, during and after your trip. Click here to continue reading
