Securing Your Home While You Travel

An empty home is a tempting target, and the signs of an absence are often easier to spot than homeowners realize. A pile of newspapers, a dark house every night, an overflowing mailbox, and an unmowed lawn all advertise that no one is home. The good news is that a little preparation makes your home look lived-in and keeps it protected while you're away.

Make the home look occupied

The single most effective deterrent is the appearance of presence. Intruders prefer empty homes, so your goal is to remove the signals of absence.

• Automate your lighting so lamps turn on and off in a natural pattern across the evening, rather than a single timer that switches everything at once.
• Stop or redirect deliveries. Pause mail and newspaper delivery, or arrange for a trusted neighbor to collect them daily. Hold packages or have them delivered elsewhere.
• Maintain the yard. Arrange for lawn care in summer or snow removal in winter so the property looks actively maintained.
• Manage curtains and blinds to their normal positions. Fully drawn blinds on a sunny afternoon can look as unusual as wide-open ones at midnight.

Don't broadcast your absence

Be cautious about announcing travel on social media. A public post about a two-week trip is an open invitation, and you may not know everyone who can see it. Share trip photos after you return rather than in real time, and ask family members to do the same.

Coordinate your monitoring

If you have a monitored alarm system, this is when it matters most. Confirm the system is armed and that your monitoring contacts are current. Consider designating a trusted local contact who can respond or meet authorities if an alarm is triggered while you're unreachable. Test your system before you leave rather than discovering a problem from a thousand miles away.

Enlist a trusted neighbor

A neighbor who knows you're away is one of your best assets. Give them a way to reach you, let them know who is authorized to be at the house (a pet sitter, for example), and ask them to report anything unusual. A house that has someone checking on it behaves very differently from a truly abandoned one.

Secure the inside, too

Before you go, move valuables, spare keys, and sensitive documents out of obvious places. Don't leave a written itinerary visible through a window. Unplug nonessential electronics to reduce fire risk, and make sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have fresh batteries, since a fire while you're away can be as devastating as a burglary.

Use your system's remote features

Modern security systems let you check cameras, lock doors, and arm or disarm your alarm from your phone. Take advantage of these while traveling. Being able to verify that everything is secure, or grant a sitter access remotely, turns a source of anxiety into peace of mind. Set up alerts so you're notified of any unexpected activity rather than having to check constantly.

A pre-trip checklist

In the day or two before departure: confirm the alarm works, set lighting automation, hold mail and packages, arrange yard care, brief a neighbor, secure valuables, and verify your remote access works from your phone. Ten minutes of preparation buys you a worry-free trip.

Protecting Life and Property Since 1964. Contact PDI Security Systems to set up remote monitoring before your next trip.