When living in the Austin, Texas area, it only makes sense to protect your home from both natural disasters and potential break-ins. It’s sometimes worrying about being fully invested in your home and still needing to leave for business trips or vacations, knowing that anything could potentially happen while you’re gone. The good news is that there are more options than ever before for protecting your home. Even in the best neighborhoods in Austin, crime does occasionally occur, so take these precautions and live with more peace of mind.
Create a simple safety checklist
Every home has a host of simple choices you can make before a trip in order to make it a less desirable break-in target and also stronger in the event of an unusual weather event. Small choices like locking all windows, keeping easily-accessible ground-floor windows blocked by landscaping features that are hard to climb, and keeping the garage door closed can add up. When someone is casing a neighborhood, they are going to look for the least work that can get them the most reward, so make your home the least appealing on that front.
Install lights and cameras
While not every home truly needs a home security system, nearly every home benefits from two things in the modern age: at least one camera trained on each entrance to the house (you can choose interior or exterior) and an automatic floodlight facing the street or your driveway. These items combine to make it very likely that any home intruder would be very clearly seen in the footage, and the light can make an intruder think twice about whether someone might indeed be home. Monitoring security camera footage remotely has become incredibly easy and inexpensive compared to systems of the past, so it’s worth doing, even if just to check for things like whether a package arrived while you were gone.
Consider security systems in certain circumstances
If you have a home full of high-value objects that could be targeted and cause a lot of loss, a security system might make sense. If there’s been a rash of break-ins in your neighborhood, a security system might bring peace of mind and quick response in the event of a break-in. Otherwise, not everyone needs a monitored system, and forgetting to set it correctly can result in loud alarms or unwanted police visits – it’s best to opt into these systems based on a personalized assessment of risk and reward.
Home automation adds peace of mind
Everything from remotely lockable and unlockable deadbolt locks to cameras in your doorbell can be automated and added to your phone these days. Home automation can be helpful in ways you might not expect: homeowners have discovered water leaks using their home cameras and come home early, saving them hundreds if not thousands in long-term standing water damage. You don’t have to worry that you forgot to lock the door if you can lock it right now, even from thousands of miles away.
Get to know your neighbors
A non-tech solution that has become less popular but is truly one of the best options available for protecting your home is knowing your neighbors. While in some neighborhoods, you might discover untrustworthy neighbors, the vast majority of your neighbors will be a pleasant addition to life and can keep an eye on your property passively if you’re out of town. Create a network of support with your community connections.
