How to Keep your Home Safe While Traveling

Are you planning a trip out of state or the country either for business or pleasure? Then you must certainly be concerned about the security of your home, especially if there’s no one you’re leaving behind to watch it. With these ten helpful home security pointers, you can rest assured that you’ll find your home just as you left it:

1. Let Technology Lend You a Hand

With today’s brimming options of surveillance technology at affordable prices, it’s easy and wise to incorporate a monitoring system that lets you keep an eye on things from afar. You can even get a live two-way system that allows you to talk with people who come to your door to find out what they want. If you see strange figures hanging around suspiciously, you can trigger your alarm and scare them away.

2. A Security Guard Presence Goes a Long Way

Surveillance technology is good, but it requires quite a lot of work, which beats the purpose of your vacation. Compliment this equipment with a qualified and experienced security guard who can take care of the hard work for you. Aside from ensuring no one goes where they shouldn’t, the mere presence of a security guard is enough to deter anyone from attempting a burglary.

3. See To it That Maintenance Work Goes On

Thieves are usually on the lookout for signs of ‘abandoned’ homes in the form of overgrown lawns and pilling snow, among other things that indicate you’ve not been around for a while. So it’s best to ensure your pool guy, gardener, or any other maintenance personnel keeps up with the chores even while you’re away.

4. Have a Friend Keep an Eye on Things

Sure, you can put off the mail and newspapers, but your front door may become littered with delayed or mismatched orders and flyers, so it helps to ask a trusted friend or family to lend a hand. Have them stop by every so often, preferably twice daily (in the morning and evening) or at least once every 24 hours. They can also help ensure maintenance services are going on as usual.

5. Wait Until You're Back to Post Those Vacation Pictures on Social Media

Is your home address engrained somewhere on your social media account, or are there any visual pointers (selfies, videos, etc.) that might give away where you live from past posts? Then you should probably keep a low profile on your social networks until you’re back otherwise you’ll be letting the unscrupulous know that you’re away, and this is their chance.

6. Get a Safe For Your Most Valuable Items

For expensive jewelry and other precious items, you could get a safe deposit box for that added layer of security just in case. Alternatively, ensure such valuables are out of sight, i.e. not near windows.

7. Set timers for your lights

A lit home gives off the impression that someone’s around and interior and exterior timers for your lighting can do that for you. People will know you’re away if your house is constantly dark at night, or the lights are always on even throughout the day. Besides, your electric bill won’t be looking too good if you do that.

8. Disconnect your garage door

In a world where security solutions are matched by the technical prowess of hackers and motivated criminals, your automated garage door can be an Achilles’ heel. It’s not uncommon for one garage door to respond to a couple of remotes, so always go for the manual lock alternative when traveling for long durations.

9. Leave your curtains as you normally would

Your first instinct will be to close tje curtains so that prying or criminal eyes cannot peep inside. However, is this how they’d typically be when you’re around? Any changes can tip off the wrong people that you’re not home, especially if you’re not one for leaving curtains closed for vast periods.

10. Take Out The Spare Key From Under the Mat

Crooks know it all: the old spare key under the rag, that seemingly ordinary plastic rock you think you’ve concealed too well, and the odd flower pot in plain sight. If you must leave a spare key, it should be in the trusted hands of family or friends as opposed to your front yard.

Last but not least, it’s also great to not only implement security solutions but also let people know you have these security measures in place. You can get a bunch stickers with bold writing showing you have a security guard or video surveillance at the ready. In many cases, that’s more than enough to make a would-be burglar opt-out of an attempt.