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 The mon­i­tor­ing sta­tion can­not reach you if your num­bers are out of date.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.