If you have a house, then you know the importance of being safe. When your home is damaged heavily, it makes you feel the worst. Therefore, it is important to protect your home at all costs. This article shows you just how to be as safe as possible.

After you purchase a new home, change the locks. You have no clue how many people were given keys by the former owner. Hire a locksmith so that you can be sure you are the only person who can access your home. Also, you can contact a locksmith if you ever misplace your keys.

Your dog can keep your spare house key for you. This can be done if your dog can come outside. Just place your key on your dog’s collar.

Spare Key

Do you keep your dog outside if you leave the home? She or he is actually a good place to keep the spare key. Attach your spare key inside the collar of your dog. This is quite effective if your pet does not respond well to strangers.

Social networking sites are great for keeping in touch, but post information sparingly. For example, you might avoid broadcasting when you are going out of town, especially if your friends list contains casual acquaintances. It’s great to see new places and take a lot of photos, but posting them while still overseas lets thieves know your home is empty.

Before leaving for vacation, turn off the ringers in your house. If the phone rings when you are away, burglars will know there’s nobody home, making the house vulnerable to a break-in when you are out.

Don’t let strangers enter your home. Even if this stranger has a believable story or is trying to sell you something, do not let them in. Some people will simply knock on your door to see whether or not there is a security system installed, and if there isn’t, they may target you later when you’re away.

Before agreeing to work with a security company, check with your friends and family for recommendations. It is probable that you will hear some great stories about some companies as well as some not so great stories about others. This can save you the hassle of having to research everything on your own. Ask a few different people to help you make the best choice.

Remove all of the vegetation outside in the hotter months. They pose a fire risk. Clear up your yard so it looks good and is safe.

Be sure to secure the skylights to your home. While they are nice and help with lighting, they also provide the burglars help with access to your home. Keep them secure with heavy duty hardware that closes them off to potential thieves.

You never want to open up a door to a stranger without proper identification. Many people are devising many different schemes to get into homes and burglarize them. Therefore, only allow people you know and are expecting to enter your home.

Keep your most valuable possessions inside your walls. This doesn’t necessarily involve chopping up your walls, either. There are many locales that are already around your home. Why not take the guts out of an electrical socket you’re not using? You can convert it into a convenient and covert little wall safe.

Be sure your valuables are not visible from the outside of your house. If you have big windows near your big entertainment system, it can seem like an invitation to thieves. If your windows face a street, be sure they’re always covered and have your valuables safe.

Install lights that have motion sensors. The motion sensors turn on the lights whenever anyone approaches your home. You will receive advance warning of any potential issues, and a would-be intruder will probably be scared off. Make sure you keep fresh light bulbs in your motion activated lights so that they will work correctly.

Regardless of how long you think you’ll be gone, make sure to lock your doors. It may be shocking, but many home invasions and burglaries occur by intruders walking through the front door that was left open. It does not take long for thieves to steal a lot from your home.

Change all of the locks in your new residence. Even if the previous owner or tenant seems trustworthy, you have no way of knowing how many copies of the key they made and distributed. And, other people could have lived in the home previously to them as well.

The fist thing you’ll need to do for home security is to get new locks. Perhaps your roommate left town or you have gone through a messy divorce, and you need to feel that the home is safe. It does not cost much, and can be handled very quickly.

Check someone’s references carefully before letting them come into your home. A background check may also be a good idea. You never know if the maid, repairman or contractor you hire is on the up and up, and letting them in or giving them a key could be a fatal mistake.

If you want to make your house even more secure, a cheap way to do that is to buy outside lights with motion detectors. At night, the lights will keep things bright round the house, but they are also efficient and cost-effective ways to help your security. This is a great way to deter prowlers and potential intruders at night.

Keep valuables out of sight of windows. It may be great to have large windows with a view, but this means that people can look in. Always keep your windows covered and do not tempt others by displaying your possessions.

If a friend picks up your mail while you’re away, have them check for fliers on your door. Canny burglars will often produce and distribute their own fliers so that they can see whether or not anyone takes them down. If it stays where they put it, they will know you are on vacation.

Consider installing a surveillance system. Installing hidden and visible video cameras is great for securing a home. If a burglar can see them, they are likely to go away. Some security systems are accessible via mobile phone, which lets you look in on your house when away.

When choosing an alarm system, consider one that offers protection for more than just your doors. All of your windows are possible entry points for a thief too. Get an alarm that will trigger if either the doors or windows are opened. This is a way to make sure your family will be safe.

If you just purchased electronics, do not leave empty boxes outside. This will show that you have expensive equipment in your home. After removing the contents from these boxes, tear or cut them up.

There’s an easy way to secure interior doors (if there are areas you want to keep housemates and children out of) without obliging you to carry a key-ring around at all times. Each entrance can be fitted with a keyless lock that requires a code to enter. These can be installed either by you, or a home security company.

Prior to allowing access to anyone, make sure you are shown proper identification. For a relatively small fee, you can also run a background check for their criminal history. Someone can seem nice and professional on the outside, but they may not be so nice on the inside.

Ask the security company whether or not that have motion sensitive lighting. Most companies will provide customers with this luxury. When anyone gets too close to the entry way, the lights turn on. This makes your home safer because it warns intruders away.

Improving the security of your home should not be difficult. You simply need to understand how home security works. Use what you’ve just learned to secure your home. Don’t neglect anything you read here. Make your home as safe as possible.

Having light on in your home at night will scare crooks away. They want to avoid being seen. If you have your home lit up, then you have made it hard for burglars to hide and rob your home. Keep your home lit up all night long.