Holiday Travel Tips: Protect your Home

Are you traveling for the holidays? You may want to take preventative steps to protect your house. While homeowners are away, burglars may use the holiday season as an opportunity to target your house. Check out these helpful tips to protect your home.

• Security System: A security system is one of the best ways to deter thieves from targeting your house. Many systems allow you to monitor your home right from your phone and allow you to set off a loud alarm to scare potential intruders.
• Keep the Lights on: Burglars are more likely to break in when they believe no one is home. If you leave a few lights on, you may be able to thwart an attack before it happens. For a more protective approach, consider getting timers that automatically turn lights on and off throughout the day and night. Don’t forget to check your outdoor lights and make sure they are functioning and pointed in the right direction.
• House Sitter: Ask a family member, friend, or a trusted neighbor to keep an eye on your home while you’re away. Prowlers usually case a house before they attack to see which homes are occupied and which ones are vacant. If they drive by and see a car in your driveway or a person inside your home, they will move on to the next house.
• Social Media: You may enjoy posting the fun places and things you are doing while on vacation, but be careful. Thieves will often look on social media to see who is away and may attempt to rob that home. Instead of posting real-time updates from your vacation, post your travel pictures and videos after you return home.
• Hide a Key: Many individuals try to hide a house key outside of their homes in case of an emergency. If you are one of these people, do not hide the key in an obvious place, like under a doormat. This makes the robber’s job much easier. The same goes for keypad locks. Do not write the combination to your locks on or under the lock system.

Follow these tips to keep your home safe while you enjoy some much-needed downtime over the holidays.