So you\u2019ve booked a vacation and you\u2019re looking forward to\nit. You pack, you hold the mail, you tidy the house and lock it behind you, and\nwhile you\u2019re away enjoying yourselves, thieves have all the time in the world\nto rob you. It\u2019s a scenario that many vacationers have returned home to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Homes empty due to vacation are a particular target for\nthieves, who have ingenious ways of knowing that a home is standing empty.\nSeveral years ago, an employee of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines was\narrested<\/a> for running a burglary ring with her husband: thanks to the\ndata on her computer, she had extensive lists of names and addresses of\nvacationing families and knew when the time was ripe to arrange a break-in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, homeowners are the accomplices of their own\nbreak-ins. Posting vacation photos on Facebook, for example, announces to\ndozens or hundreds of people that a home is empty. Home insurers recommend that\nvacationing families take a few steps to ensure their house remains secure\nwhile they\u2019re away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Delay your social media posts.<\/em><\/strong> While you may think you trust everyone in your social media network, it\u2019s important to realize that vacation photos may also be seen by people you didn\u2019t intend: friends, family, and coworkers of your social media contacts. There\u2019s no more brazen way to announce, \u201cWe\u2019re not at home!\u201d Consider waiting to share your vacation photos until after you return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Make the home seem occupied.<\/em><\/strong> Leave a car\nparked in the driveway or designated parking spot while you\u2019re away and use\ntimers to turn lights on and off in the evening. Install a motion-sensor light outdoors\nand pause your mail and newspaper service so that they don’t pile up. Ask a\nneighbor to keep an eye on your home and report any suspicious activity to\npolice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Use home monitoring technology.<\/em><\/strong> An alarm system is always a good idea, but if it\u2019s out of your price range, consider a technology such as Google Nest Hello<\/a> which will train a webcam on your home\u2019s entrances and see and record what’s on your doorstep. You can check and see if a package is left while you’re gone and ask a friend to bring it inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put valuables in a safe.<\/em><\/strong> If you keep cash,\nbonds, jewelry, antiques or other items of value in your home, consider\ninvesting in a home safe so if thieves do enter the home, your most valuable\nitems are safeguarded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ensure you\u2019re properly insured.<\/em><\/strong> If you\u2019re a\nhomeowner, make sure your policy has been\nupdated<\/a> to reflect your home and property value. If you\u2019re a renter,\nconsider taking out a renter\u2019s policy<\/a>\neven if your landlord doesn\u2019t require one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By taking extra steps to protect your home while you\u2019re on\nvacation, you can relax and enjoy yourself with your family. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So you\u2019ve booked a vacation and you\u2019re looking forward to it. You pack, you hold the mail, you tidy the house and lock it behind you, and while you\u2019re away enjoying yourselves, thieves have all the time in the world to rob you. It\u2019s a scenario that many vacationers have returned home to. Homes empty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homeowners-insurance","category-house-home","category-insurance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2638,"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions\/2638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petruzelo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}