If you’re planning a vacation on any extended period of time while you’ll be away from home, it’s important to take necessary steps to ensure that your home is properly secure.
Give the Appearance That You’re Actually Home
In this day and age, thankfully, we do have ways to make it look like someone is home even if they actually aren’t. Taking steps like setting times on lights, radios, and televisions so they have turn off and on automatically may be an affective way to deter criminals from breaking into your home. Now, we’re not saying you need go all out “Kevin-McAllister-style”, but making your home look occupied is definitely smart. Additionally, you should cut your grass before you head out on your vacation and, if you have more than one car, park it in your driveway. Another option is having one of your friends or neighbors park their car their while you’re gone. Window blinds and curtains should positioned normally. Do you best to keep expensive furniture or home appliances out of plain sight.
Lock Your Doors
As is the case whenever you leave your home, you should always lock up. Don’t forget to also close your garage.
Be Mindful of What You Share on Social Media
We live in a day and age where sharing photos and videos online is the norm. Everything from Facebook, to Instagram, to Twitter, we’ve become very comfortable with posting what we do in our daily lives on the internet. Though this can be fun to do with close friends and family members, you’re taking a risk every time you do this because it’s a way for criminals to become incentivized to break into your home while you’re away.
In order to prevent burglars from knowing you’re away, be sure to change your privacy settings on your social media platforms to private or share them with your friends only.
Get Help From Your Neighbors
Telling a trusted friend or neighbor about your plans to be on vacation may be another option you’d want to consider. It’s good to have an extra set of eyes of someone whom you trust to be on the lookout for anything unusual surrounding your home. Providing them with a spare key is also something you can do.
Install Security Cameras or Alarms
Having security cameras in or around your home is an effective way to deter criminals from breaking into your home. After all, if they do, it’ll be much easier to track them down if they attempt to flee the scene because you’ll have a detailed image of them on camera. You may also be eligible for certain discounts on your home insurance if you do have either security alarms or cameras. Talk to you one of our experienced agents for details on this.
Remove Your Spare Key
We’ve all tried to think of clever places to hide our spare keys. It may just be easier to remove that worry from your mind altogether by removing your spare key or entrusting it to a friend or neighbor while you’re gone.
Unplug All Appliances
To prevent fires or possible power surges, consider unplugging all of your electronics and/or appliances while you’re away from home. Be sure to test your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms and make sure they are functioning properly before you go on vacation. Although accidental fire is covered under your home insurance policy, it’s best to avoid that headache in the first place by having a fire extinguisher easily accessible.