7 Things Smart Homeowners Do Before Going on Vacation
- Lock Your Home
This is probably the most obvious advice someone can give, but many homeowners forget to lock their homes. Your home has many entry points that make it easy for burglaries to happen due to an unlocked window or door. On the morning of your trip, go to each door and window and check every entry point to ensure all doors, windows, and the basement are secured. Investing in a smart lock can eliminate the fear of locking your door. The smart lock allows you to lock and unlock your door from your mobile device.
- Stay Off Social Media
Traveling to different and exciting places is a great experience. What better way than posting your adventures on Facebook or Instagram for all your family and friends to see? Well, actually providing information that you are on vacation can alert a burglar that your home is empty. You should resist the temptation to post photos about your vacation activities until after you return.
- Secure Your Valuables
Whether your most valued possession is your grandmother’s pearls or high-end handbags, it’s smart to stash them out of view and preferably in a secret hiding place while you are away on vacation. You want to protect items that are most important or valuable to you. For an extra layer of protection, place items such as jewelry, accessories, and cash in a protected safe or a hard-to-reach place. Otherwise, you are risking a loss and emotional trauma of victimization if a burglar does invade your home.
- Maintenance Repair
Don’t ignore those maintenance repairs anymore. Before your leave, resolve any home maintenance and repair issues that have the potential to worsen while you are away. Fix any troubling pipes, leaking roof, or other issues that you have been keeping an eye on. The slow drip under your sink can cause costly damage while you’re away from home.
- Install Smart Lock
Do you loan your spare keys to family, friends, neighbors, and workers? Upgrade your lock to a smart keypad lock that allows you to give specific people who need to access your home their own PIN code. Once their visiting hours are over, you can simply remove their access to enter your home. When you leave town for a nice vacation, all users with a PIN code are disabled. This ensures that cleaning companies, contractors, and anyone who has a PIN code cannot enter your home while you are out of town. Another feature is that the smart lock alerts you when someone accesses your home. If you accidentally left your door unlocked or someone else, it alerts you from your device. In addition, the smart keypad lock can be connected with your smart alarm system for enhanced home security.
- Home Automation
Homeowners often wonder what is going on back at home while they are away on vacation. To eliminate the unknowingness, you can install all your home activities, check-in whenever you want, and make things difficult for potential burglary. If you don’t want to waste electricity but want to deter criminals who are looking for an obviously vacant home, install smart lighting that allows you to control your lighting and set schedules to appear that someone is home. You can also install video doorbells, outdoor security cameras, and thermostats for additional protection that can be accessed through your device.
- Install Security System
The single best way to ensure your home is safe is to install security cameras at every door that is obvious for any potential threat to see. Many smart doorbells are equipped with motion detection and video recording that can be connected to your security system. When someone alerts the motion sensors, a notification will be sent directly to you. For more protection, even add a few fake security cameras because if someone sees that they might be recorded, they are unlikely to break into your home.
Final Thoughts
Burglars are far less likely to strike if they think they’re going to get caught. Protect your home by choosing Integrity Security’s residential security services to ensure your home and possessions are safe. We can keep an eye on your property 24/7 with the help of our home security systems and home automation while you are away. You can have control to access and automate your security system while receiving alerts and notifications from your device. Contact us today for your free estimate on our residential security services.