A vacation home is still a home which is why you should secure your property as well as you would your main residence. After all, crime can happen anywhere. As such, most crime is also preventable and with the proper steps you too will be able to rest well knowing your vacation home is safe and secure even if you’re miles away.
Tips for Unused Vacation Homes
In some situations it would be ideal to have a trusted friend or neighbor check in on your vacation home while you are away. However, in the case that you are unable to find a house sitter, you will have to come up with a few different ways for your vacation home to be secure in your absence.
One thing you might want to consider using is a light timer. Ideally there should be at least two lamps that go off at different times of the day. They might be best to go off once in early morning and again late in the evening or once in the late afternoon and then again a few hours later. It doesn’t really matter when you set the timer as long as people on the outside can see the lights activate on and off. That way, if there are any thieves in the area, they’ll think twice about entering your vacation home. However, it should be noted that clever thieves will sit and watch a property for routine behavior. You might want to consider implementing other means of security in combination for your vacation home.
Hiring grounds maintenance might seem like a costly investment but when you consider the cost of losing your valuable possessions in your vacation home you might reconsider. There are a number of reasons why having someone care for your lawn is a good idea. Firstly, if the property is well-maintained most thieves will assume someone is residing at that residence and will in most cases leave the property alone. The other reason hiring maintenance is a good idea for your vacation home is that it allows for someone to visually keep a watch on the physical property. If something is amiss they will be able to notify you or authorities right away if anything is wrong. As a bonus for hiring a maintenance crew, you won’t have to worry about mowing and gardening while you are on vacation.
Another idea to consider is recording all of your valuables before you leave your vacation home. Take pictures of everything in every room. If you happen to have a smart phone with you or a recorder, make a video of your possessions as they are so you can view the recording when you return to your vacation home.
Alarm systems are a minimal cost to an invaluable investment such as a vacation home. There are a number of great security systems available. Depending on your needs, you can find the perfect system for your vacation home. If anyone tries to break in, police will be automatically notified and your security company will then contact you to let you know what happened.
If You Want to Rent Out Your Vacation Home
If you are considering to rent out your vacation home, there are some things you may want to keep in mind before propping up that “For Rent” sign in the front lawn.
Firstly, be careful who you speak to. Not everyone is an innocent prospective renter. Clever thieves might pose as one in order to gain more information about you and your property. So don’t be too eager to reveal if your home is fully furnished.
Also, you may want to consider not even putting out the “For Rent” sign. This might seem like a great idea to attract potential renters, but in actuality this would give any potential thieves in the local area the knowledge that the home is sitting unoccupied and encourage break-ins.
General Safety Tips
As with any home, be it your main residence or your vacation home, there are some things you should do simply to be safe.
- Keep all doors and windows locked tight.
- Give one of your keys to a trusted friend or neighbor.
- Consider setting up a surveillance system. If your vacation home is broken into then you’ll have a video recording of what your thief looks like which will enable authorities to locate the vandal in a more timely manner.
- Keep tall bushes or shrubs away from your vacation home. Tall shrubbery gives thieves an ideal place to hide.
- Also be sure to set up outdoor lighting that’s on a timer. Don’t time it to be in sync with your indoor lamps though. That would look too unnatural.
When considering how safe is your vacation home, use your best judgment and choose what works best for you. After all, it’s your home, your memories and your monetary investment. Only you know what combination of safety tips will work best for your situation.