Preparing Your Home for Vacation

It’s been a long winter, work has been tough, it’s been months since you had your feet in the sand at the beach. You deserve a vacation! We would like to make sure your vacation is a good experience from start to finish. Don’t forget to prepare your home for your absence.
re. So here are a few tips that will help keep your home and your possessions a little safer in your absence.

1. Social Media – As much as you will want to boast about your trip as soon as possible, and share moments with your closest 200 friends and cousins… a little restraint will go a long way to ensure your home security. Many burglars monitor social media to see when homes will be vacant for extended periods. So a good plan is to wait until you are home to post all those great photos from your trip. For the closest family members send some old fashioned emails with photos attached.

2. Making your home look occupied – Thieves want your stuff; they don’t want to meet you. So by making your home look occupied, they will avoid your house. This can be done with simple timers on lights and radios. As well as asking your neighbour to park an extra car in your driveway.

3. Maintenance – It may sound obvious, but many forget to cancel mail service or ask the neighbours to empty your mailbox daily. Don’t forget about the local paper delivery. Nothing says a home is abandoned more than a stack of weathered fliers and papers blown against the front door, and a driveway with 10 cm of undisturbed snow on it.

4. Up your game on physical security – Are your locks top notch (Grade One)? Are your doors and door hardware strong? Could they resist a hard kick? Have you considered security window film on that back patio door or that vulnerable sidelight right beside your front door?4. House sitter – A simple solution may be to have a family member or trusted friend “move in” for the duration of your vacation. There is nothing like an occupied home to LOOK like an occupied home!you check with the monitoring station to ensure your emergency contact list is up to date! The monitoring station cannot reach you if your numbers are out of date.

5. House sitter – A simple solution may be to have a family member or trusted friend “move in” for the duration of your vacation. There is nothing like an occupied home to LOOK like an occupied home!

6. Neighbours – Let your neighbours on all sides of your home know that you will be away, don’t forget about the ones living behind you. Break-ins are common through back doors!

7. Alarm System – Make sure your Home Alarm system is in good working order, and that you check with the monitoring station to ensure your emergency contact list is up to date! The monitoring station cannot reach you if your numbers are out of date.