5 Ways To Protect Your Home While You’re Away On Vacation

Going on vacation is something many people look forward to. It’s a chance to unwind and relax somewhere far away. But going away also means putting your house at risk for burglary. Besides packing and planning your itinerary, you should also be planning for how you can protect your home against thieves while you’re away. Here are a few tips you can do that.

1. Home security system

The first way to protect your home when you’re away is pretty much standard across all modern houses nowadays. Many insurance companies require that homes have one form or another of this system before they can be covered. New models of home security systems have quite a number of features that come with it.

Some are equipped with cameras that can be viewed remotely so you can see what’s happening inside and outside your home in real-time. Others have alarms that sound off when unauthorized entry into the house is made. Some models are linked to service centers where agents are alerted to illegal entry into the premise and can call the police immediately.

2. Leave a key with a friend

If you have friends that have asked for a few favors in the past, this is the time when you call in a few of those. Give them a spare key to your house and ask them to check up on it regularly to make sure nothing is afoot. Better yet, you can leave another key to a family member and ask them the same favor. This way, your house is never without someone to see that things are in order. If you have packaged delivered, they won’t be sitting duck in your front porch for days which can alert burglars that no one is home.

3. Don’t announce it on social media

The biggest mistake that people make that make them vulnerable to home invasion and burglary is announcing it on Instagram or Facebook that they’re going on vacation. Thieves nowadays are quite cunning, employing the use of these platforms to stake out potential victims, monitoring their schedule and routines.

What’s more, never post anything that could help people pinpoint where you leave such as pictures that show the exterior of your house or geo-tagging places nearby. Also, delete old posts, invites, and Facebook events that include your phone number because it is all too easy to trace those back to your address.

4. Hold posts and newspaper delivery

One way to make it obvious that you are out of town is a pile of mails and newspaper on your front porch or mailbox. So before you leave, make sure you stop your subscriptions or hold your mails. If you have no time to do this, you can ask a friend or a neighbor to bring in the mail and paper inside while you’re away.

5. Install a timer on for your lighting

In order to make it seem like there are people at home while you’re away on vacation, go for a good light timer. Set it so that it turns your lights on and off at night. Like all quality spy equipment, you’ll need to choose from the right manufacturer to make sure it’s fail-safe. Get one for both interior and exterior lights as well. For an added layer of protection, install motion-sensitive exterior lights. This will turn on and flood an area with light when it detects movement, helping to deter attackers.