Most bur­glars do not choose their tar­gets at ran­dom. They look for homes with spe­cif­ic traits that sig­ni­fy a low­er risk of get­ting caught. And a greater chance of scor­ing a big­ger boun­ty.

In a pre­vi­ous post, we iden­ti­fied sev­er­al weak points bur­glars seek. There are sev­er­al oth­er con­di­tions that many home­own­ers don’t real­ize cause their homes to become tar­gets.

Below, we uncov­er 5 of these home secu­ri­ty fail­ures and why they could make your home a tar­get.

Your home looks vacant

Even the most inex­pe­ri­enced bur­glar knows that vacant homes are a prime tar­get because there’s far less risk of being caught. So, if your home looks dark, whether you’re away, at work or in bed, your home could be their next tar­get.

Solu­tion: Use light timers or oth­er motion sen­sors to make it appear that some­one is home, espe­cial­ly if you’ll be away for sev­er­al days.

The lawn is overgrown

Beyond just an eye­sore, an over­grown lawn is anoth­er sign that your home has been vacant for a while. In the sum­mer, bur­glars will focus on yards where the grass has­n’t been cut, know­ing that the own­ers are prob­a­bly on vaca­tion.

Solu­tion: Make sure the lawn is mowed reg­u­lar­ly, espe­cial­ly if you’ll be away for long peri­ods. If you won’t be home to do it your­self, sched­ule a lawn ser­vice to do it for you.

High bushes and shrubs

The prob­lem with over­grown bush­es is that they help to con­ceal bur­glars who tres­pass on your prop­er­ty, espe­cial­ly if you’re not at home. Bur­glars can hide behind these shrubs so neigh­bour­ing hous­es won’t see them. Sim­i­lar­ly, if the bush­es are in front of your win­dows, you like­ly won’t know the bur­glar is approach­ing your home.

Solu­tion: Keep bush­es cut low, ide­al­ly not taller than waist-length.

Items are left in the yard

Toys, yard tools, sports equip­ment – all the mis­cel­la­neous items that clut­ter your yard can also make your home a tar­get for theft and bur­glary. There are a few rea­sons for this. First, the things them­selves are easy to steal – and while you may not care if a sin­gle rake dis­ap­pears, you’ll be kick­ing your­self if your expen­sive leaf blow­er is stolen from your back patio. Sec­ond, these scat­tered items sig­nal to bur­glars that you gen­er­al­ly have lax secu­ri­ty. This may give the bur­glar more con­fi­dence to open your doors and win­dows.

Solu­tion: Don’t leave items out­side for long peri­ods, espe­cial­ly overnight.

Open curtains/blinds at night

How do bur­glars know if there’s any­thing worth steal­ing inside your home? Sim­ple: if the blinds are open, they look inside! Keep­ing your cur­tains open at night invites thieves to look inside your home and decide whether to attempt entry. Even worse, if you have valu­ables in clear sight (such as elec­tron­ics, jew­el­ry, car keys or med­ica­tions), then you’re increas­ing your risk even fur­ther.

Solu­tion: Keep blinds closed at night, and nev­er put valu­ables where they can be seen from the win­dows.

Request a home security system consultation

Pro­tect your fam­i­ly from the risk of bur­glary and intru­sion. Con­tact a PROTECTION PLUS Secu­ri­ty Con­sul­tant for your no-oblig­a­tion secu­ri­ty sys­tem con­sul­ta­tion today.

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Mike Wedmann
Mike Wedmann is an experienced Security Industry Professional with over 25 years experience as a Security Integrator and Project Manager. Mike has been with Protection Plus Inc. for over 20 years. Mike has lived in the greater Toronto area for over 25 years with his wife, 2 kids and a dog named Bart. He has an educational background in Communications and writing. Mike is a published author that writes about his experiences on various topics, including his experience as a parent. Primarily Mike writes about Security Industry products and Security Solutions that benefit consumers.