#Keep your home safe while traveling over the holidays
Even though Hudson is consistently voted as one of the safest towns in Ohio, along with several neighboring communities, it is still very important to take precautions to protect your home while you are away.
With the Christmas and New Year’s holidays almost here, for many Ohioans the excitement of getting out of town to visit family and/or friends can be the highlight of the season. You may have planned a special trip, a skiing get-away and for some, who are sensibly deciding to head in the direction of warmer weather, already have your bags packed and your motor running. So exciting – but it is best to ensure your home is secure before you leave – coming home to a ransacked apartment or home is just awful!
Here are some precautions to take to secure your home so you can have peace of mind while you are away.
- Check all the doors and windows to make sure they are secured and locked. This seems like a simple safety rule, but is often overlooked when rushing to the airport or chasing daylight for your road trip. If you have a security system, make sure it is on. (Some insurance policies offer premium discounts for active security systems.)
- If you have a trusted neighbor that will be home during the holidays and you are comfortable asking them for a favor, having them keep an eye on your home is a great idea and, of course, you can offer to return the favor when your neighbor is out of town. You also might want to consider a house sitter or someone you know and trust who can stop by daily to make sure everything is OK.
- Living in Northeast Ohio means it is pretty much a sure bet that the snowplow will be needed during the time you are away. Don’t cancel or pause your service and if you don’t employ a snow plow service, it is a good idea to sign up for a temporary service just in case. It is always smart to make sure your home looks like someone is there, which includes shoveling the pathway to the front door.
- Do you really need to post your whereabouts on social media while you are out of town? Some people are Facebook post-a-holics, and sharing your excitement on Twitter or Facebook might be opening the social media pages to thieves identifying your home as vacant. It might be wiser to wait until you return to share those vacation photos and posts.
- Be sure to either have your mail and newspapers held while you are away, or make sure your trusted neighbor or friend is retrieving them daily. Mail popping out of the box or newspapers stacked in your driveway or at your door is a sure giveaway that no one is home. The Post Office is very accommodating with requests to hold your mail – you can even do it online if you don’t have time to stop at your local branch. Don’t forget about packages that may be sitting at your doorstep – have someone retrieve them the same day they are delivered.
- Put your lights on an automatic timer that is set to have them on at varying times during the day so that it looks like you are at home. If you have a SMART home, set your cellular timer to control the lights and temperature of your home; this also allows you to monitor your security system from afar. (The technology that is available today is amazing!) Outdoor lights are no exception and motion and photocell sensors are inexpensive to install; if you don’t have them, it would be a good idea to look into purchasing them.
- Window treatments should be left in their normal position. Be sure not to leave valuables where they can be seen from outside the windows. If you have valuable and personal effects, (i.e. family jewelry, etc.) that you would consider irreplaceable, take them to a secure location like a bank safety security box or to a friend or family member’s home for safe keeping. It is understandable that you will want to close your window treatments, but a thief might see this as abnormal behavior and a sign that your home is unoccupied.
- It is not a good idea to hide a spare key under a fake rock or place one under the doormat. Also, thieves are very adept at opening combination lockboxes or simply using bolt cutters to open them. It is always a great idea to have a spare key left in a safe location, possibly with your trusted neighbor or friend, or at your office – think of a place that you could access that is secure to leave your spare key.
There are many sites on the Internet offering advice to help you protect your home while you are enjoying your holiday get away. You can also call your security company for additional information, and your local community website and police department can also offer information regarding neighborhood vacation watch programs.