While you’re packing your bags to take a vacation, head south for the winter or move out, burglars are waiting for you to leave your house unprotected. Make your house look occupied while you’re gone and secure your property before you head out.
The easiest thing to do is lock your doors and windows! And that spare key you thought you so cleverly hid, is so easy for robbers to find. Find a trusted neighbor to hold a key so it’s not under the welcome mat or hidden in the fake rock.
Install exterior motion sensor lights at all entries to your home. Somebody up to no good at your front door doesn’t want a spotlight on their face. A light coming on might just be enough to stop a burglar.
Purchase light timers set to go on and off at times that match your usual pattern. You can also connect a radio to turn on and off, just like a light, to give the impression that someone is home.
Ask a neighbor to visit your house on occasion and drive up to the door to leave tracks in the snow. Reposition window treatments and make sure your mail and newspaper have been stopped. Nothing says “nobody’s home” like a week’s worth of newspapers on the front porch.
If you’ve taken these steps to make it look like somebody is home at your house, don’t take to Facebook and Twitter to post photos of yourself on the beach. Save the photos for your return – when you can be there to protect your home and its valuable contents. Nothing spoils memories of a vacation like getting robbed while you were gone.