4 Home Security Tips to Keep Thieves from Targeting Your Home

The feeling of walking into a ransacked home is one of the worst feelings in the world as you now feel violated in what was the comfort of your own home. Criminals are looking for an easy mark to take valuable items and sell in the second-hand market. Make it less likely that these thieves will target your home by following these simple safety precautions.

Keep Your Home Well Lit

The simple illusion of someone being home can keep your house from being a target. Lights also make it easier for the thief to be seen or identified during the attempted break-in. Criminals will target homes with no outdoor lighting, or lighting that is easily disabled. Consider keeping a motion-detecting flood light on garage and rear entrances to startle anyone sneaking around outside. In today’s connected smart home, it is easy to keep your interior lights on a schedule that looks like someone is home from the outside. If you’re going on vacation, consider maintaining this schedule even if you’re not home. Most smart lights are LED and the cost to keep them has a minimal impact on your electric bill. Home automation with security systems can also impact the price of your home insurance. Home insurance doesn’t have to be expensive when you take advantage of discounts from a properly secured home.

Fortify Outer Doors

When choosing the front door for your new home it can be tempting to go for that beautiful stained-glass door, but it’s an easy break-in target. Strike plates can be added to outer doors to make them more resistant to kicking-in. These should be included on any doors that face the exterior of your home. These doors should also be secured with high-quality deadbolt locks that are made from solid metal. The latch should be at least 1.5″ long to prevent it from slipping free from the housing.

Protect Your Windows

If your door looks particularly well-guarded, the next point of entry for a thief is your windows. Examine your house with the mindset of getting into it. Are your basement windows easy to open from the outside? Protect the window with a metal grate. Are your windows easily accessible in the rear of your home? Consider holly bushes or other natural deterrents beneath that window. The idea is to keep easily accessible windows from being a quick target for entry. If the thief doesn’t feel confident in an easy entry, they’ll move on and find another target.

Never Stash A Key

Most homeowners keep a key stashed away in a not-so-clever spot on their porch. Most thieves know this and will turn your porch upside down searching. No under the rug and above the door sill are not clever places. They’re the first place a determined thief will look. Determined criminals can even spy on you to determine the key’s location. For people who forget their keys often, automated keys and locks with keypads are a good solution. Storing the key at a neighbor’s house is also an option, but never label it with your address.

 

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