It’s a huge step to buy a home, especially if this is your first one. Homes can be an attractive target for burglars, though, and it’s important that you take steps to keep your investment safe. How can you minimize your chances of becoming the victim of a break-in? The following five tips are all great ways to keep your home more safe and secure.
Change the Locks
As simple and inexpensive as this is, it’s often overlooked by new homeowners. Although you’re supposed to get all the keys to the home when you take possession of it, you can’t be sure if there are any copies floating around out there. That’s why for your peace of mind, it’s better to hire a locksmith to change all your locks for you, or purchase the kits at the store and do it yourself.
To ensure that your security is airtight, you may want to have your locks tested against lockpicking. Use a bump key set to test whether your locks are lock-bumping-proof. If they’re not, then you should get locks with higher security.
Lockpicking is a skill that is traditionally used for professional purposes or for sport. However, one can’t overlook the fact that it can be used for nefarious purposes. As such, it’s better to guard yourself against bad things before they happen.
Learning more about lockpicking will help you discover how you can protect yourself against home intruders. Plus, lockpicking is a useful skill to have in case you get locked out of your home or somewhere else.
Hide the High-Value Items
When burglars prowl a neighborhood trying to decide on which home they should target, they’re looking at which home will be the easiest to hit and is likely to have valuable items that they can steal. You can avoid making your home a target by keeping any valuable items under wraps.
Drive a luxury car? It’s best to park in the garage, because burglars will assume that if you can afford that, you can afford other expensive items. Did you recently purchase a new TV? Make sure you keep your curtains closed, and don’t leave the box visible in your trash can outside.
Know Your Neighbors
You don’t need to be best friends with everyone on the block, but it is smart to at least be on a first-name basis with a few of your neighbors. Burglaries aren’t as common in close-knit communities, and one of the reasons for that is because everyone looks out for each other. When your neighbors know you a bit, they’re more likely to notice if something suspicious is going on at your home, and they’ll feel more comfortable getting in touch to let you know.
Purchase a Homeowner’s Insurance Policy
Insurance is something you never want to use, but if you need it, you’ll be glad you got it. The reality is that there’s no way to guarantee you won’t be the victim of a home break-in. You can reduce your risk as much as possible, but a determined burglar could still in and take some of your valuable possessions. As frustrating as this is, it will be even more frustrating if you don’t have an insurance policy to reimburse you for your losses.
Hire a Home Security Company
You can put up motion sensor floodlights all around your home and install an alarm system in case of a break-in, or you can make it easier on yourself and simply hire a home security company to handle all that for you.
Service packages vary from company to company, but you can typically expect motion sensor lights and a loud alarm that activates if someone enters the home without inputting the correct code. The security company will also call the police for you if that happens, which means that even if a burglar gets into your home, they will have very little time to take anything before the police arrive.
Your home is your castle, and in many ways, you need to treat it like one to keep it secure. If you implement the above tips, you’ll make your home less of a target and reduce the odds of a burglar breaking in successfully.
