Leaving town for vacation is one of the great perks of summer. Unfortunately, it can leave your home vulnerable to all kinds of opportunists.
Here are some tips for keeping your home secure while you are away:
» Resist the temptation to share the fact that you are currently or are going to be out of town widely on social media. As fun as it is to share the photos, it is a good idea to wait until you are back home to share photos that show how far away you are from your home.
» Stop the mail and all newspapers. There is nothing more telltale than a pile of newspapers or a mailbox overflowing with mail. Click here for the U.S. Postal Service form to have your mail held until you return. Call to stop newspapers.
» Enlist the help of a friend or neighbor to check on the house while you are away. Activity of any sort is good for a house that may be under the surveillance of an opportunist. If your neighbor can park in your driveway, turn off and on the lights or go inside to water plants, even better.
» Use light timers. These can be picked up at any hardware store and are easy to use. It’s a good idea to buy several and have different lights turn off and on at intervals to make it look like people are inside the house.
» Remove obvious temptations and valuable items from view of windows. While you may be tempted to close the drapes so that people cannot see into your home, this also means that someone who may be checking on things will not be able to see if anything unusual is happening in your home. It is better to hide tempting items.
» Hire a house or pet sitter. This is a great way for the house to stay secure and you will have the added bonus of Rover being happier with his normal routine.
» Independenttraveler.com recommends letting your local police department know if you are going to be gone for a significant amount of time:
“Consider notifying the police if you’re going on vacation. No need to let the cops know about a weekend getaway, but do call them if you’re leaving town for longer than a week. It’s possible the police may go out of their way to drive by your house while on patrol, especially if you live in a small town.
“If you have a security alarm, leave a house key and the code with someone you trust, and provide the police and alarm company with their name and phone number.”
» Use technology to your advantage while out of town. Houzz.com has suggestions for using technology to keep your home safe.
With a video doorbell and stick-up cameras around the house, the Santa Monica-based startup, Ring, lets you monitor every corner of your property — whether you’re home or away. The devices range in price from $179 to $249.
» Motion detector lights. Placing motion detector lights around your home, especially near front doorsteps, porches, sliding doors or accessible windows is a good idea.
» Invest in an alarm system and place the alarm company signs in strategic locations. Hopefully, the thief will just skip your home entirely.
» Factor in a trip to your safe-deposit box before you leave town. In the craziness of getting ready for a trip, it is tempting to want to skip an errand, but putting valuables like jewelry in a bank safe-deposit box will give you peace of mind while you are on vacation.
Safe travels!
— Noozhawk contributing writer Hilary Doubleday can be reached at hdoubleday@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.