5 Home Security Tips to Protect Your Home While You’re On Vacation
You’ve bought a new home, and now it’s time for your first vacation! While excitement fills the air, you might have questions about how to secure and safeguard your property while you’re away. We’ve compiled essential tips to help you relax and enjoy your holiday without worry.
Home Security Tips When You’re Away
Make Your Home Appear Occupied
When you leave for vacation, it’s crucial to create the illusion that your home is still occupied. One effective method is to use self-timers on indoor lights, programming them to turn on and off at times you would typically have lights on. If you receive newspapers, place your subscription on hold while you’re gone. It’s also wise to ask a neighbor to collect your mail and flyers to avoid obvious signs of vacancy.
Depending on the season and duration of your trip, consider having someone look after your property. Tasks like mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, or raking leaves can help maintain a lived-in appearance. In winter, ask a neighbor to park their car in your driveway; fresh snow without tire tracks can signal to others that no one is home. Finally, keep your drapes in their usual position. Closed curtains may draw unwanted attention, while open drapes can make your home look inviting.
Make Your Property Less Inviting
To enhance your home’s security, consider installing a security system. This addition can offer peace of mind while you’re away, especially if it sends alerts directly to your phone for any motion or suspicious behavior. If a security system isn’t feasible, using fake security cameras or stickers can deter potential burglars from targeting your home.
Another effective strategy is to install motion detection lights outside. Intruders typically prefer to operate in the dark, so unexpected lighting can make them more visible and less likely to continue lurking around your property.
Don’t Broadcast Your Travel Plans
While sharing vacation adventures on social media may be tempting, it can inadvertently reveal that you’re away from home. Instead, save those photos for after your return. If you can’t resist posting while you’re away, ensure your privacy settings limit visibility to only trusted friends and family.
Home Security Tips Before You Leave for Vacation
Before embarking on your trip, make sure all doors and windows are securely locked, including those in garages and sheds, which are often easy targets for thieves. Remove any hidden spare keys; burglars know where to look, and leaving a key in common hiding spots makes their job easier. Instead, leave a spare key with a trusted neighbor.
Store your irreplaceable valuables in a secure location and keep tempting items out of sight from prying eyes. Document valuable possessions with photos stored securely for insurance purposes in the event of a home invasion.
It’s also essential to consider risks beyond break-ins when leaving your home unattended. To prevent flooding, burst pipes, or power outages, turn off the water supply and set your water heater to vacation mode. In the summer, you might want to turn off the air conditioning or set it to 5-10 degrees higher than usual. In winter, maintaining a temperature around 50°F can help prevent frozen pipes.
For added peace of mind, arrange for someone to check on your home periodically while you’re away, especially during cold weather. This ensures that heat is running and pipes are not freezing. Additionally, during hot and humid summers, consider unplugging electronics to protect against damage from power surges during electrical storms.
A handy trick to check for prolonged power outages is to place an ice cube in a container in your freezer. If the ice cubes remain intact when you return, you’ll know your food hasn’t thawed and refrozen.
Keep a Home Security Tips Checklist
The final hours of preparing for a vacation can be hectic, making it easy to forget important tasks. To avoid this, create a checklist to refer to each time you travel. This will ensure you’ve taken all necessary precautions before you leave.
If you have questions about home security tips, don’t hesitate to contact us today. As experienced realtors, we have access to a vast network of security professionals in Ottawa and Barrhaven. We take pride in working closely with homeowners every day to ensure their properties are well cared for during their time away.
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Having successfully bought and sold over a thousand homes, we are honored to assist thousands of clients in Barrhaven and across the Ottawa area with closing deals confidently and satisfactorily. Contact us today to discover how we can help you!