Skip to main content

Tips: Protect Your Home During A Spring Getaway

  • Mar 19, 2008

Is spring fever prompting you to head for the beaches or some other vacation getaway? If you're planning to travel during the spring holidays this year, you can help protect your home while you're away by following these tips from the Florida Association of Realtors.

  • Make it look like you're home. Install timers on interior lights so they turn on and off periodically. Many timers cost less than $25. Some more costly products are capable of varying the time that your lights turn on. Also consider leaving your radio on and tuned to an all-news or talk show station.
  • Disconnect and remove all exterior electrical decorations before you leave to reduce the chance of fire and theft. Install exterior lights that are controlled by motion sensors to make your home a more difficult target for prowlers.
  • Discontinue your newspaper delivery temporarily. Be sure to give several days notice so your order can be processed in time.
  • Ask someone to collect any free papers or sales materials left near your house. When fliers and papers are left on a driveway day after day, it's a sure sign that no one is home.
  • Have the post office hold your mail. This can be initiated by calling the U.S. Postal Service at 1-800-275-8777 and listening to the option for putting a vacation hold on your mail. You can make arrangements up to 30 days in advance of your vacation; at minimum, two days will be needed to process your request. Or you can go to the Postal Service Web site at https://dunsapp.usps.gov/HoldMail.jsp and follow the instructions.
  • Ask a friend or neighbor to park a car in your driveway occasionally and keep an eye on your place. If your neighborhood is patrolled by police, give the police your schedule so they'll watch for suspicious activity; if there's a crime-watch program, notify the person in charge.
  • If you have an alarm that is monitored, tell the alarm company you will be away. If possible, provide a phone number where you can be reached.
  • If you're going to be away for two weeks or more, have a friend or lawn service mow the grass.

Featured

Most   Popular

New Products

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden Door Controls has relaunched its CV-7600 card readers in response to growing market demand for a more secure alternative to standard proximity credentials that can be easily cloned. CV-7600 readers support MIFARE DESFire EV1 & EV2 encryption technology credentials, making them virtually clone-proof and highly secure.

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.