10 Simple Ways to Secure Your Home

No matter where you live, the potential for a break-in or property damage exists. But keeping your home safe and secure doesn't have to be complicated; there are plenty of simple ways to secure your home to deter potential burglars or lurkers. 

How to secure your home 

There are dozens of things you can do to help make your home more secure, but we'll focus on 10 of the most simple–and effective:

1. Get rid of your hide-a-key

In theory, a hidden key is a good idea. It helps prevent you and your family members from getting locked out of the house, saving the considerable effort and cost it might take to get back inside. However, it’s also an easy invitation for criminals to easily break into your house, no matter how clever you think your hiding spot is. 

A better alternative is a smart door lock, which uses a code and keypad to unlock your door instead of a physical key. Many smart locks also let you unlock your door remotely via an app. 

2. Add outdoor surveillance cameras

One of the most effective ways to protect your home is through outdoor surveillance cameras. One study of more than 400 inmates serving time for robbery found that the presence of outdoor cameras was a main deterrent when choosing a target home or business to rob.

In addition helping prevent crime, outdoor cameras can also provide valuable footage to law enforcement. 

3. Improve your outdoor lighting

Another simple way to secure your home is by improving your outdoor lighting. Thieves want to stay hidden, and a literal spotlight is enough to deter many would-be burglars from targeting your home. 

Motion sensor flood lights can be purchased from home improvement stores or online and easily installed on your garage. Even installing a brighter porch light can help. 

4. Replace your doorbell with a doorbell camera

You’ve probably seen news footage of criminals snatching packages off of front porches. These videos are the result of doorbell cameras, which record anyone who comes to your front door. Not only do they help identify who is coming and going from your home, but they can also help prevent package theft. 

5. Install door and window alarms

More than half of break-ins occur through a first-floor door or window. While locking your doors and windows is a good deterrent, it’s easy to go to bed or run an errand and forget to lock up. That’s where door and window alarms come in handy. Often part of a home security system, this type of alarm will sound if a door or window is opened while the system is armed. And since the last thing burglars want to do is call attention to themselves, it’s often an effective deterrent. 

6. Trim your landscaping

Hiding spots around your house make it easy for criminals to get close to your home to both case it and break into it. If the thought of someone lurking in your bushes scares you, trimming the landscaping around your house is one of the most effective and simple ways to secure your home. Make sure you focus on large plants, shrubs, and trees located near windows and entryways.

 

7. Don’t forget about your garage door

Garage doors often go unsecured. Whether you forgot to lower the door on your way to work or your kids left it open after grabbing their bikes, it’s easy to forget about the garage door. 

However, they are a popular point of entry for burglars for a couple unsettling reasons: they’re easy to break into and they offer an often-unlocked way into your home. You can keep your home and garage more secure by using a garage door controller that allows you to close it from any location. 

8. Step up your WiFi security

It’s easy to overlook your WiFi connection when talking about securing your home. But securing your WiFi is just as important as securing doors and windows, especially if you have smart home devices. A savvy hacker can break into an unsecured WiFi connection and unlock smart doors and other devices. 

You can lock down your WiFi by renaming and hiding your home network (never use your address or last name!), using a firewall, and enabling WPA or WPA-2 encryption, to name a few. Also, make sure you choose smart devices that have the highest level of security.

9. Use motion sensors

Motion sensors are an important component of a home security system and work by detecting movement and then triggering an alarm. 

Motion-activated devices, such as outdoor lighting or surveillance cameras, are another smart way to keep your home more secure. Once they sense movement, they’ll turn on, start recording, or notify you of activity. 

10. Consider indoor security cameras

Indoor security cameras are also a good way to secure your home. As much as we want to trust the people we let into our homes, caregiver theft or theft from in-home services like cleaning or petsitting can and does occur on occasion. Indoor security cameras can help document any situation that arises, or provide a deterrent.

Securing your home with smart home devices

Technology has taken home security up a notch with smart home devices designed to not only protect your home, but keep you in touch with what's going on at all times. 

Take a look at some of the Vivint security devices and services that protect your home:

• Outdoor surveillance cameras, including doorbell cameras, that feature Smart Sentry, which intelligently identifies lurkers and lets them know they've been spotted.
• Garage door control that notifies you if your garage door is open and then lets you close it from anywhere via your smart home app.
• Smart locks that not only can be locked and unlocked via your app, but that also provide a record of who comes and goes and when. 
• 24/7 professional monitoring of your security system, so you know your home is protected whether you're home or away.
• Door and window alarms that also feature glass break sensors and will sound an alarm when triggered. 

Another benefit of a Vivint system is the Vivint app which keeps you in touch with your home. For example, you can watch surveillance footage live and get informed immediately if an alarm is triggered, allowing you to take immediate action. 

Start protecting your home with Vivint today

Securing your home with Vivint will give you the peace of mind that comes with knowing your home is protected around the clock. Contact our Smart Home Pros today at 800.646.1469 for a free quote.