How To Protect Your Home While You Travel The World
It’s Almost Christmas Break Time; Will You Be Traveling?
Only a few more weeks and the Christmas holiday is here! Even though not everyone can take two full weeks off from work, many people get at least a few days or a week off to spend time with their families over Christmas break.
Whether you spend Christmas at home and travel later, go ‘on location’ to a warm climate, take the family on a ski trip or spend Christmas day at ‘the happiest place on earth’, reality is that when you aren’t home, someone is sure to be looking at your property!
Preparation Can Deter and Prevent Crime and Home Disasters, Too!
We’ve covered this subject before, several times, yet when we watch the news, we feel so bad for those affected by break-ins, fires and other home disasters.
What can you do?
You can take preventative measures to do everything in your power to prevent and deter criminals before they decide to enter your home and you can prep your home to prevent leaks, fire and other home disasters!
Here is a list to help you get started!
13 Things To Do To Prepare Your Home Before you Travel
- Install a security system with 24hour monitoring for crime and fire!
- Install security cameras wired into your security system to get a live feed of your home.
- Post a ‘protected by….’ security sign in a prominent place outside your home.
- Don’t announce your trip on social media.
- Hire a home sitter to take care of your home, or stop all your mail, newspaper delivery and package deliveries!
- Don’t leave your trashcan sitting at the curb.
- Put your lights on timers.
- Lock all doors and double check to make sure your windows are locked as well.
- Turn off your main water valve right before you leave on your trip.
- Check the batteries in your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors if they aren’t hard-wired into your system.
- Tell your neighbors of your plans and how and where you can be reached.
- Leave a few kids toys or dog toys out on the lawn or in the backyard.
- If you have a dog, or even if you don’t, leave a dog bowl or leash by the back door.
Now doing all of these things on this list can not completely prevent crime or home disasters like fires, floods or wind damage, but the thing is, if you have a monitoring service and cameras, at least you’d be alerted the minute something were to be happening in your home.
For example, in one of our local Myrtle Beach neighborhoods there was an unattended home during the ice storms of 2015. After the ice melted, water was seen gushing out of the house from under the garage door. Clearly, a pipe or water heater had broken (most likely a pipe as the water kept running and running) and neighbors tried – in vain – to reach the home owners who, as it turns out, were out of the country. We can only imagine the damage that was done to that home with water gushing out for days!
A simple conversation with a friendly neighbor would not have prevented the disaster but would have notified the owner and stopped it much quicker.
If you travel often and need a security system, come talk with us!
We use the best materials, systems, cameras and the absolute best monitoring service we have found.
I Live in a Safe Neighborhood; Do I Still Need a Security System?
How Do You Protect Your Home?
No matter what town or city you live in, some neighborhoods just have a better reputation than others. If you happen to be one of the lucky people to reside in a known ‘safe’ neighborhood, do you still need a security system for your home? What about if your neighborhood has a neighborhood watch, or a security patrol? How about if your neighborhood has a safety patrol as well as fences and 24/7 security guards at the gates?
These are questions we get asked often and today we will answer them for you!
What Do You Should Know About Your Neighborhood Security
If your neighborhood has a neighborhood watch, a security patrol, or security guards, more often than not these are ‘governed’ (and paid) through your homeowners association. To find answers and details about your neighborhood’s security, contacting your HOA is the first step we recommend. If you do not have an HOA or neighborhood watch, information about crime rates in your area should be available through your local police department.
From your HOA, you should be able to get details on
- hours of patrol
- where (specific route/streets) the patrols take place
- manpower
- security cameras
- neighborhood/community access restrictions
and more.
Details and stats on previous break-ins (cars and homes), vandalism and other issues should be recorded somewhere in the HOA meeting minutes if they have been discussed. We certainly recommend that your community management company is upfront and forthcoming with details about these issues as information becomes available.
For example, if there was a rash of overnight car break-ins, you’d want to know so you can double check your own vehicles that following night, correct? Does your HOA send out an email blast when this occurs? There has to be a way your HOA communicates with you and your neighbors about safety issues.
So step one is to find out how easy it is to get access to your community and neighborhood and what the crime rate is in your neighborhood.
Your Neighbors’ Security Habits
Next up, ask your direct neighbors about past crimes on your street and in your neighborhood. Especially if you are new to the neighborhood, getting this information is vital to your own security planning. We also recommend you not only ask your neighbors, but also watch their behavior.
- Do garages stay open all day, or do people keep them closed?
- Do your neighbors have dogs?
- Do your neighbors bring their garbage cans back to their house?
- Do your neighbors pick up their mail and newspapers daily?
- Do your neighbors have security company signs in their yards?
- Are there any strangers walking and driving around on your street?
- How many work vans and unmarked vehicles do you see on any given day on your street?
If it sounds and feels like your neighbors feels secure, you need to figure out what makes your own home feel secure to you.
If it sounds and feels like your neighbors don’t feel secure in your neighborhood, you not only need to address your home security, but also your neighborhood security with your HOA or local police department. We encourage you te get involved and be an active participant in your overall security. Protect the ones you love!
A Home Security System Gives You Peace of Mind
Whether you live in a 24/7 guarded neighborhood, or in a high crime neighborhood, break-ins happen, everywhere. To keep you and your loved ones safe, invest in a home security system and you have the peace of mind to know that help is on the way immediately if something were to happen to your home!
Talk to us if you aren’t sure what system to get for your (new) home.
If you are a first time home buyer, check out this Ultimate First-Time Home Owner Security Check List.
7 Ways To Protect Your Home While You Are On Vacation
Living It Up In Myrtle Beach
We operate our business in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (as well as Maryland) and we are often reminded how lucky we are as most people vacation where we live and work!
Myrtle Beach is an amazing place to live and a great place to raise a family. The Grand Strand is growing, expanding and that means more businesses are opening up and more people are moving here. We’ve been very busy helping many local home owners and new business owners with their security needs in the last few years installing cameras, panels, and more and there’s no end in sight! (Yes, we’re smiling!)
Getting Away from our Wonderful Tourist Destination
Sometimes, though, even we get tired of working hard all the time. Dare I say we get tired of the beach, the putt-putt and ‘gasp’, the tourists?! Eventually everyone needs a break, right? When we do get a break here at Strand Security, there’s ONE thing we do not worry about.
We at Strand Security do not worry about leaving our home or our business while we are on vacation.
Why? Be cause we know the signs thieves and burglars are looking for so we take measures to make it look like we are around and we have the best security systems installed, of course (did you expect us to not mention that?)
Here are 7 ways to protect your home while you go on vacation or ‘7 ways to deter a burglar from breaking into your home while you are on vacation!’
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If you have a security system, set it. Display the security company signage in your yard and/or display a sticker on your door/windows.
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Purchase a few timers and set up several lights on those timers; set them to go on at dusk and turn off at night, or at dawn.
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Stop your mail and newspaper delivery, or have a trustworthy neighbor empty your mailbox and pick up your newspaper every day. Nothing says ‘I am not home’ like a stack of unread newspapers on your lawn!
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If you’ve left on trash pickup day, arrange for a neighbor to return your empty can back into your side yard or garage. An empty driveway and a can left at the curb signals you are out of town!
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If you have kids, leave a few toys strewn around in the back yard… If you have dogs, leave a few dog bones strewn around, too!
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If you have a dog, leave out a dog bowl and chain/leash by the back door. Put up a sign that says ‘Beware of Dog’. Even if you don’t have an actual dog, this will deter a burglar.
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Install outdoor motion-detecting security lights.
Doing all or some of these things will not 100% guarantee that your house will not be broken into. They will, however, make the chances of that happening much lower.
Smart burglars – and yes, there are some smart and sophisticated burglars and thieves out there – will avoid confrontation. They do not want to come to your home while you are home. They do not want to break down a door, they’d rather find one unlocked. They do not want an alarm set off. They’d much rather burglarize a home without a system.
Don’t make it so easy for someone to enter your home while you are away! Deter everyone and secure your home.
The last thing I want to mention is that with an active alarm system and monitoring company, you’d know INSTANTLY if something is going on in your home, whereas you wouldn’t know for days or even weeks if your home was vandalized without such a system.
Let us know if we can help you make your vacation just a little bit better with added peace of mind!
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