7 Simple Steps to Enhance Your Home Security

Home security can be scary—especially considering the fact that burglaries occur every 15 seconds in the United States. Beefing up your home security doesn’t have to be overwhelming and intimidating. This seven-point checklist will help you cover the basics in enhancing your home security.

 1. Get to know your neighbors.

While getting to know your neighbors might seem simple, it’s a very important point on the checklist. Once you get to know your neighbors and they know you, it becomes easier to spot oddities in neighborhoods, which can help prevent crimes from happening.

2. Lock Your Doors & Windows

While is seems a bit surprising, nearly 30% of burglars enter through an unlocked door or window. Be sure to lock your doors and windows, especially during hours when you’re not home.

3. Prep Your Front Door

According to the FBI, 34% of burglars enter through the front door. Burglars either walk through an unlocked door or kick the front door in, making your front entry the most vulnerable place in the house. Ensure that your front door is solid with a fully functioning deadbolt lock. A steel metal door or full glass security door can enhance your protection. The bars on standard steel security doors can also act as a deterrent to burglars often times scaring them before even trying to break in.

4. Light Up Your Home

Adding lights to your landscaping and setting timers to lights gives the appearance of being home. Add motion sensors to the lights on your home’s entry points for a quick way to discourage crime. The sensors and additional outdoor lighting can often be enough to turn burglars away from a home.

5. Keep Up With Landscaping

Keeping trees and shrubs trimmed can potentially eliminate places for intruders to hide out. Remember to keep large plants and shrubs away from covering windows when landscaping.

6. Plan When You’re Out of Town

Be sure to have your neighbors or a friend round up newspapers and packages that might be left at your front door. A door with piled up newspapers is a trigger signal for burglars scoping out their next target.

7. No More Hidden Keys

Stop hiding your extra key under the doormat or in the mailbox.  Home intruders know where to look, so most hiding spots don’t work. Instead, ask a trusted neighbor to hold on to the spare key for emergencies.

Follow these seven steps to get started on your home security improvement efforts.