How To Protect Your Home While Traveling

While off on summer adventures, smart locks, security systems, and other safety features can keep your house protected.

​School’s out for the summer, and this Memorial Day weekend marked the unofficial start of summer. Soon, people will be heading out on family vacations, to summer camps, and for lake days, all to soak up some fun in the sun.

While we fully support taking a break and getting away, we urge you all to do something before you leave for your trip: secure your house by following the tips below.

1. Tell Someone You’re Leaving: Before you head out, make sure at least one person knows where you will be, for how long, and how to reach you (just in case there’s an emergency). You may also want to have someone come over in order to feed the animals, water the plants, and check the mail. If you’ll be gone for a while, you may even want to pause/postpone any orders (such as autoships or subscriptions) and have the post office hold your mail.

2. ​Make It Look Like Someone Is Home: Having someone check in while you’re away is smart. If no one will be coming and going, though, you can still make it look like there’s someone inside by, say, having lights come on with timers and/or keeping a vehicle in the driveway.

3. Don’t Tell Everyone About Your Trip, Though: For many, getaways are full of Instagram-worthy moments, and you can definitely show off online…just wait until you get back. If you share a real-time post about leaving, it notifies anyone and everyone that your house is sitting empty.

​4. Inspect Current Safety Features: Now is a good time to check doors, windows, and locks, in order to make sure everything is working properly. If not, we know someone you can call to have any/all of this repaired/replaced.;)​

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5. Upgrade Your Security System: Think about ways home security can be enhanced even further, as motion lights, surveillance cameras, door/window sensors, and video doorbells are just a few of the most popular options. 

6. Pretend You Beefed Up Security: A yard sign with a security notice and/or the name of your security company can help deter burglars…and these can be put up whether you have a security system or not!

7. Consider Smart Locks: A security camera or a doorbell camera may not be for everyone, but now is a good time to think about a smart lock. These have increased in popularity, due to features like monitoring activity from your phone and allowing temporary access, and we’re constantly installing them (especially Yale Home’s DoorSense™).

8. Draw The Curtains: Another way to help decrease the chances of a robbery is to make sure window curtains are closed and concealing whatever treasures you may possess. Plus, the valued belongings you do have should be placed in locked safes. 

9. Hide Your Keys: Under the doormat, in a hanging plant, disguised as a rock…There are many places to keep a spare key, but while traveling, you may want to keep them all inside, take them with you, or hide them in better places (just in case).

​10. Take A Cue From A Classic Movie: If all else fails, you may just want to leave your kid home – equipped with paint cans, a tarantula, nails, tar, a blowtorch, and ornaments – and let them take care of it!

No matter what your summer holds, we hope it’s a fun and safe one. And if you need to enhance your home security before (or after) then, contact Cothron’s today.

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