Your biggest concern when traveling during the summer is your vacant property. The latest statistics reveal that 20 Americans out of every 100,000 inhabitants will be victims of a home invasion.
This may not sound like a great deal, but do you really want to take the risk?
The chances of a successful arrest drop dramatically the longer you wait to call the police. And if you’re away from home it could be days before you even find out you’ve been a victim of burglary.
Reduce your chances of becoming a victim by following these five tips.
- Don’t Leave Your Home Empty
Home invasions do happen when people are at home. But they’re even more likely to happen when your house is empty. Burglars want easy targets not a conflict.
If possible, try to get a friend or family member to housesit for the duration of your trip. That way even if something does happen it can be reported to the authorities immediately.
- Who Has Access to Your Home?
Have you ever lost a key? Did you forget which of your family members and friends have a key? Believe it or not, thousands of people make this mistake every year.
We recommend using a key cutting service to have a new set of keys cut. If you have the budget, we also recommend upgrading your current doors to a more secure alternative.
Older doors, in particular, are easier to pick and break down.
- Don’t Mention Your Vacation on Social Media
Did you know that 75% of apprehended burglars believe that other burglars are using social media to case a house?
When people mention their vacations on social media, it signals to the burglar that your house is going to empty. So many people even supply details about the dates they’re going to be away.
Combine that with Google Street View and they can inspect the area without even leaving their computers.
Stay quiet about your vacation publicly until you return home.
- Install an Alarm System
The average householder is extremely complacent about security. While it’s true that property crime of all kinds has declined by 50% since 1993, there are still thousands of incidents every year.
Your home should have an alarm system. Alarm systems come in all shapes and sizes. The more advanced ones will even automatically send an alert to a professional security company, who will call the police if the alarm is triggered for longer than usual.
Alarms won’t stop a burglar, but they’ll spook them enough that they will flee.
- Tell Your Neighbors
You should tell your neighbors when you’re going to be away for an extended period of time. Your neighbors will be able to report if anything looks off. An engaged neighborhood watch is a burglar’s worst nightmare.
Remember, they’re searching for easy targets.
Last Word – Protect Yourself Should the Worst Happen
Finally, make sure you take an inventory of all your valuables and ensure you have adequate insurance to cover any losses. There’s no foolproof way of stopping a burglar in your absence, but you can make your home as difficult as possible to target.
Burglars don’t want difficult they want easy!
We finally came up with this one called “Aspen Glen” and, to be honest, at first I was worried. We put it on the walls and it looked like a highlighter exploded. Now I’m in love with the color. It’s perfect for the accents we chose.
Yes! We love them too- I actually just bought a few more today. And that’s fabulous that you grow so many herbs, you’re lucky to have the space. We’ll be at our lake house this summer and I’m looking forward to growing a bunch more. Enjoy them!
Just like in brick and mortar stores you can also find discount shopping online as like anything else you can find anything you want with only a few clicks of the mouse. While the brick-and-mortar is a plus for getting outdoors it can also be inconvenient and stressful.
Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very hard to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and visual appearance. I must say you’ve done a very good job with this.
Kartik Gaggar