If you want to keep your house from being burglarized, here are the tips you need to follow.
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Burglary is a crime of opportunity. The easier you make it for people to burglarize your home, the higher the chances it will actually happen. If you want to minimize the chances of your house being burglarized, here are a few tips you need to follow.
First, keep your doors and windows locked and deadbolted—especially the door leading from the garage to the house. It’s easier for a thief to get into your garage than you think (Watch Here), and once they’re in there and shielded from public view, it’s simpler for them to break into your house.
Additionally, if you usually leave a car in your driveway overnight, make sure you lock it, and don’t leave a garage door opener inside it. Consider locking your cars even when they are in your garage. There’s been a rash of burglaries lately involving stealing garage door openers, so don’t let the same thing happen to you.
Next, consider investing in a security system. Home security systems have become very cost-effective over time. Even if you don’t pay for monitoring, the “Protected by X” yard signs and window stickers are a great deterrent to potential burglars.
Also, install adequate outdoor lighting. Motion sensor and dawn to dusk lights prevent a lot of crime from happening.
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It’s easier for a thief to get into your garage than you think, and once they’re in there and shielded from public view, it’s simpler for them to break into your house.
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Burglaries increase during the summertime here in our region due to more people going on vacation and the weather simply being nicer. If you’re going on vacation soon, there are a few extra things you can do to keep your home safe:
- Have someone pick up your mail and paper. You don’t want anyone to see evidence of you being gone piling up in your driveway or mailbox, so have someone pick up your mail periodically and check on your house to make sure nothing is amiss.
- Install a Ring doorbell or a similar device. This way, you can be notified whenever someone stops by your front door (and even have video of them).
- Have your exterior lights turned on. A dusk-to-dawn system with photo-eye sensors is ideal. There are also many products out there that let you control your interior lights while you’re gone so you can give the appearance that someone’s still in the home.
- Close your blinds and curtains. This will prevent anyone from being able to peek inside.
- Secure any pet doors so no one can crawl through them.
- Have someone mow your lawn.
- Have a neighbor park their car in your driveway.
Madison and the surrounding area is an awesome place to live, but burglaries can happen anywhere, so hopefully these tips will prevent you from becoming a statistic.
If you have any questions about this or any other real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.
