Home security is a top concern in the summertime, when many people are away from home traveling on vacations. Before you leave on your well-deserved break, make sure your home is protected by taking the proper precautions.
- Hire someone to take care of the place. In today’s busy world, your neighbors don’t have time to check on your house — they barely have time to check on their own. If you have pets, this is a must. You can board the dog, but your cats, hamsters, fish and other creatures need daily looking after. Your plants and flowers will likely need watering, and your lawn may need mowing as well. It’s a big job, and if you pay someone, you stand a better chance of the job being done well. If you are going to be gone more than two weeks, try to get someone to house-sit.
- Wait until you get home to post vacation pics on Facebook. Yes, it’s tempting to do right away, but if you do, you’re announcing to the world that you are not at home, and are, in fact, far away and not expected back anytime soon.
- If you subscribe to a newspaper, cancel it while you’re away. Many homeowners are subject to drive-by deliveries of free papers too, and having these stack up doesn’t look good either, so that’s all the more reason to hire someone to keep an eye on the place. And unless you have a mail slot, consider having your mail held until you get back so it is not exploding out of your mailbox, altering burglars to your absence.
- Home automation is a godsend for those who travel. Instead of having to connect those cheap plastic timers to lights all over your home, you can simply program the lights to go on and off in a pattern that mimics your actual usage. This can be done with TVs, radios and other media as well, making it seem for all the world that someone’s home. No more need for the recording of a ferocious barking dog!
While these are all good and useful hints, they pale in comparison to the effectiveness of a good home security system — and not the kind that goes off every time it thunders or the kids open the sliding glass door. GE, 2GIG and Alarm.com are all top-of-the-line systems that can provide your home with the highest levels of security. Many of the choices include home automation features as well, such as lighting, thermostat and lock controls.
TYM Smart Homes & Home Theaters offers a variety of security packages to meet your needs. Contact them today to learn more about home security systems and which one is right for you.
