Tips to Protect a Vacant Home Against Theft and Vandalism

A property could appear empty or vacant for many reasons – could be a rental vacation home used periodically. A home of a deceased relative unoccupied pending the time it is sold or leased out. Sometimes, the property might be waiting for approvals to undergo repairs after a fire accident or storm damage.

Whatever the case, vacant homes share the common problem of being prone to attacks by burglars and criminals. Vandals and thieves often target vacant homes because they are unoccupied, and there is the belief that their crimes can go unnoticed. However, you can protect vacant homes against attacks if proper measures are implemented.

In this article, we will look at the right steps to secure a vacant home against theft and vandalism.

Improve Security of all the Entry points

Some homeowners fail to lock their windows or doors when they leave for a vacation. A burglar or vandal can use a window and door as an entry point to access a home, especially a vacant one.

Also remember that an unlocked window in a basement or sun porch will give an invader easy access into your vacant home. Thus, you must check if the windows and doors are locked tightly before leaving the property.

Take Out The Valuables

For homes that are awaiting probate or about to be sold, it is good practice to remove valuables such as jewelry, electronics, and family keepers from the property. This also includes vehicles and household equipment in the garage. Taking out these valuables helps you avoid losing them if thieves attack the home.

Replace The Locks

If you inherited the home or just bought the property, you can never be too trusting when it comes to the reliability of the locks. Who knows, there might be a relative, friend, neighbor, realtor or developer who has duplicate keys to the property. This means they can access your home whenever they want.

Also, you never can tell whose hands the duplicate keys have fallen into. You would agree that a copy key in the hands of a criminal poses a threat to the valuable items in your vacant home. To prevent any of these, you should change the locks on the property. Hire a residential locksmith to replace the locks, you will be the only one having access to the building.

Install High-Security Locks

If you want to keep a vacant home secured for a long time, then you should hire a dependable locksmith service to perform high-security lock installation on the property. This is where Columbus Locksmith Pro comes in. We can evaluate the security system and install high security door locks to protect your home from vandalism.

More so, it is good to consider alarm systems which can be described as part of an advanced security system.

Alarm systems are an example of high-security locks that safeguard a vacant home against attack from vandals. However, for most alarm systems, the monthly monitoring plan costs between $15 and $30. You can see that this is a small price to protect your property while it is empty. However, ensure that you put out warning signs that the house is protected by an alarm system using stickers on the windows and front doors. This alone will deter many burglars from making your home their target.

Install Motion-Sensor Lights

Thieves and vandals often rely on the cover of darkness to make their attack on a home and cart away with properties. This is why many burglaries are done at night. However, the cover of darkness won't be an advantage for criminals if the lights come on when someone is in the yard.

Then consult Columbus Locksmith Pro to install motion-sensor lights. It is designed to come on whenever someone is approaching the property, and alerting your neighbors that there is an intruder in the vacant home. So, thieves will be deterred from attacking your home because they know that their movement won't go unnoticed.