As a proud homeowner, you cherish your home and everything in it. But there may come a day when you come home to find you have been burglarized. It can be a devastating experience and you may lose more than just money and portable and easily resold items – you may incur damage to your home.
Here are some valuable and easy tips on how to make your home less inviting to burglars. You can also check out How to (Cleverly) Secure Your Home Against Intruders for more information.
1. Keep Your Home Look “Lived In”
Cut your lawn regularly or shovel the snow on your walkways and driveway.
2. Choose Wise Landscaping
Don’t have trees or shrubs that are in front of entryways, doors, and windows to camouflage the area for a burglar. Avoid “privacy” fences.
3. Light Sensors
There is a wide range of motion active light sensors, including solar, to light up doorways, garages, and back doors.
4. Timers
Invest in a timer or timers to turn lights (and tv’s or radios) off and on randomly inside the house.
5. Those Window-Shakers
It is easy to secure window air conditioners.
6. Don’t advertise $$$
Park your Audi in the garage. Don’t leave the packaging from your new Hi-Def TV or Macbook out for everyone to see. Break it up and bury it in your garbage. And consider blinds and curtains to prevent anyone from seeing the contents of your rooms. Don`t leave laptops, purses, expensive trinkets within easy sight just inside your windows. That`s an open invitation.
7. A Guard Dog?
Get a dog. It may be annoying for your dog to bark loudly every time someone comes to the door. But when you aren’t there, even a small dog with a big incessant bark will make anyone think twice about breaking in.
8. Secure Your Doors!
Avoid buying doors with glass inserts near the doorknob. That is an open invitation too.
Keep doors locked even when you are at home. If you are alone upstairs, you might not hear someone sneak inside an unlocked door. And, if you have dog or cat doors make sure they are secure as well.
9. Home Security
If you have a Home Security System through a Company, it is wiser not to use one of their branded stickers near your doors and windows. Use generic labels notifying that a security system is installed and leave the burglar to guess which one and what they are up against.
10. Check with Neighbours
Burglars “case” neighbourhoods, e.g. how many houses have workers leaving at regular hours. Find out which neighbours are around most of the time – retirees, work at homes, homemakers, etc.
11. Housesitters
If you are going away on vacation for an extended period of time, consider a “housesitter” either staying at your home or a neighbour who would be happy to check your home on a regular basis. If you can, trust them with a set of your house keys, they can:
- Check on your timers and sensor lights to make sure they are working correctly
- Remove papers delivered to your doorsteps
- Cut the grass or remove snow
- Put the garbage out for you
The goal is to not completely burglar-proof your home, but to make it a much less enticing target in your neighbourhood for burglars.
