How to Make It Look Like You’re at Home When You Travel
The number of burglaries increases during the holidays for obvious reasons: you are gone and your home is empty and vulnerable. While you’re away, you want your home to be as safe as possible, and part of that means it has to look like someone is actually there, even when you’re not there.
Keep up with regular maintenance
If your driveway is covered with dead leaves or snow, and mail piles up, this is a clear sign for thieves that no one is home. As one public relations officer told CNN :
“Every year we see a fairly large spike in burglaries … Criminals drive through the neighborhoods in search of places for robberies. If there is just snow that has not been shoveled, they think the house is empty. “
Even better, you can ask a friend to sit at home and take care of these tasks for you. That way, everything will be done, plus you actually have someone in the house, so you don’t have to worry about making it look like someone’s house. If this is not possible, you will at least want your home to be in order while you are away. Besides snow, there are a few more maintenance tasks to consider:
- Yard work like raking leaves
- Watering outdoor plants
- Garbage cans removal
- Collecting newspapers
- Receiving mail
The Idaho KTVB surveyed 86 burglars on how they entered homes . Many of them said they were looking for overgrown bushes and large fences:
The robbers don’t want to be seen. They looked for houses with large fences and overgrown trees or bushes. “A home away from other homes, blind spots, old window frames, cheap wooden doors,” the robber wrote.
“Large trees, bushes or bushes around the house, or very reserved and conservative neighbors,” wrote another prisoner.
This is a good reminder to make sure your bushes and shrubs are trimmed before leaving.
Make it look like someone is inside
Yeah, it’s time to invite Kevin McCallister to your house . Okay, don’t go out and buy a bunch of life-size cardboard clippings, but you really want them to look like there is some activity going on in your home.
At least turn on the timer or leave the radio on. Timers are inexpensive and you can schedule them to turn on and off at specific times during the day. Better yet, use smart home technology (like a Belkin WeMo switch or socket) to better control your lamps, lights and other devices. For example, the Belkin app gives you a “far away” option, so the lights will turn on and off at irregular intervals, which could deter potential intruders.
If you really want to get smarter, plug in your TV or computer and make it sound like someone is watching a show at home. You can also loop random barking and growling sounds , which may sound silly, but in that KTVB poll, most burglars said they would stay away if they heard a large, loud dog. One robber called it a “deal breaker.”
Plus, through YouTube TV, you can connect your phone to your home computer or TV for remote video playback even when you’re not on the same Wi-Fi network. Of course, there are applications that also allow you to control your computer remotely . TeamViewer is our favorite.
When you can control electronics and lighting remotely, it’s pretty easy to make it seem like something is happening in your home. You can also park your car in the driveway. Again, KTVB reports :
As a homeowner, this is one of the best precautions you can take. Almost all of the robbers said they would think twice if a car was in the driveway.
“In most cases, this is a sure sign that someone is at home,” one of the inmates wrote.
Sure, some burglars can see this, but it’s better than doing nothing and making it obvious that your house is empty.
Be careful when spreading your plans
You might want to revisit the broadcast of your plans, or check locations while you’re away, or at least make your social media descriptors private. It might seem overkill, but criminals don’t just track your neighborhood and home, officials say, they can also easily check your social media activities .
“Social media is a great thing for people, but it’s also a great thing for criminals,” Holliday said. “Criminals hunt down the Internet.”
In addition, in many cases, the intruder can be the person you have been in contact with who has easy access to your online information. You may not even realize that you have turned on Facebook or Twitter to tag your location, so this is also something to watch out for. Likewise, your response to being out of work can be a clear sign that you have left and your home is empty. You can filter your autoresponder to only send messages to specific people in your contact list or from specific email addresses.
Obviously, there are many things you can (and should) do to protect your home while you are away . Set up surveillance . Install a security system . Ask your neighbor to check things. Making it look like you are at home is another way to scare off potential thieves, but it’s a simple enough tactic to implement.