Taking the basic steps to secure your home are
not expensive. What may be expensive is doing nothing, it is estimated that the
typical household has more the $40,000 in personal possessions, if you think
this number is high, add them up.
Work with us, or another security professional, we will
guide you to the correct security hardware, products and systems to secure your
property. You don't have to do it all at once, let us help you set up a
schedule. The end result will be good security for you and your property, and
Peace of Mind!
Check out the following security tips.
1.
Crooks will look for the
vulnerable home: the one without deadbolt locks, one with an open door, a
broken window, or one without a home security system.
2.
Be sure you
have quality secure deadbolt locks on all exterior doors. Let us help you
select the proper lock, there are huge differences between the $9.99
lumber center special of the week and a quality secure deadbolt. Consider
"high security" hardware for your home, besides being very high
quality and very secure, most feature some method of key control, that
requires you to give specific permission for anyone to obtain duplicate
keys. Very inexpensive insurance.
3.
Remember who has copies
of the keys to your home. Have your locks rekeyed if keys are lost or
stolen. If you recently moved in, have all door locks rekeyed or changed
as soon as possible.
4.
Be sure to draw the
shades and leave a radio or television on when no one is home. Install
timer controlled lighting. Ask a neighbor to park a car in your driveway.
5.
Always request
identification from service or utility workers. Potential thieves don't
always look like "thugs".
6.
At night, keep your
garage and the path to your home well-lit. Trim the landscaping and make
sure there are no areas for someone to easily hide.
7.
To avoid being surprised,
look around and make sure that no one followed you into the garage before
stepping out of your car.
8.
Get involved in
Neighborhood Watch programs. They work! Get to know your neighbors. report
suspicious people to the police.
9.
Keep an up to date inventory of
major possessions, include price, date, description, receipt, and picture
or video if possible, mark your drivers license number on them. Keep this
record in your fire safe, if this is a video record, do not keep in
fire safe, unless it is rated for media storage. Keep a copy away from
home. These steps will help police id your property, if stolen, and will
also help establish ownership fro insurance purposes.
10.
If you use an answering machine,
do not tell callers that you are not at home in the message, instead say
you can't come to the phone right now.
