quiltsRfun

You should have someone near your home who the company can call if any alarms that are sounded. In our area the police don't respond, the security company does and the company charges for each response. We've had several false alarms and I needed to leave work to turn them off. Once it was 2-3 times in the same day.

Jingle

Our business has an alarm business, the police is far away and may take them an hour or more to get here. There was a police sub station very close to here the one time we had an attempted burglary, police got here very fast.
They closed it.
We live 16 miles away and takes about 20 minutes or so to get here. We also have security cameras it records but, can't get license plates.
At home we leave two radios on and gates open, give the look that we could return at any time. This is when we go to work everyday.
Best thing is to have someone with a car staying at your house.

DOTTYMO

Ensure no post left laying around or papers or milk.

Bneighbor

We do this quite often. We give them the phone number of our son and our friend to call, just in case. They did suggest having lights on timers, stoping the newspaper, and having the post office hold our mail.

Nammie to 7

When my parents wintered elsewhere they had timers on their lights in various parts of the house. I always checked their house once a week and if i snowed then I cleared their sidewalk and drove in their driveway and into their garage so it looked like someone was there. There were a couple of winters that my daughter stayed in their house during the time it would have been vacant. You might see if there is someone you know needs a place to stay for the winter.

Snooze2978

I used to work for a police department and found that home security companies have a few flaws. True they give you a relaxed feeling of security when you're not at home but if you do get broken into, I found that by the time they get around to noticing something is wrong and then they get on the horn to the cops, the criminals are pretty much done and gone. It only takes approximately 5 minutes for someone to break into your home, take what they want (unless they're taking the entire house contents) and be gone. Letting your police department know that you'll be gone for a certain period of time and who is authorized to be at or in your home at any given time to check on things is your best bet in my opinion.

Steps you can take to make it look like someone is home.........put a timer on some lights for different times of the day/night, keep outside porch lights on at night (I installed an electric eye on all mine), stop your newspaper and mail, make sure someone shovels your sidewalks and driveway while gone, don't close all your drapes as it will make someone think no one is home also. Just a few tips to make it look like there is activity at your house. Also have someone you trust come and check on things at least once a week.............for break-ins, broken pipes, etc.

Just my thoughts from past work experiences.

Pat G

Because I live on a sm. lake in the woods but have people around the lake, I leave sev. lights on timers all over the house. I figure, that way, nobody can be sure if somebody is home. I used to have a motion sensor alarm in sev. rms. but found that nobody responded when the outside horn went off. Or a mouse which manages to move in when I'm gone sets off the alarm.

lalaland

Here's some suggestions. Burglers generally don't linger, they want to get in and out as quickly as possible so they will grab whatever is convenient. The object is to make it as difficult as possible to get in, and once in, as difficult as possible to get stuff that is worthwhile

*Install a home security system
*Install motion sensor lights in the front and the back of the house
*Disable your garage door opener
*Burglers will kick in your doors to gain access so have strong dead bolts installed
*You can also strengthen your entry doors by installing a product called Easy Armor Door Reinforcement Kit
*Make sure all your windows either have locks on them or a dowl in the sill to prevent them from being easily opened
*Install locking security screen doors on all your entry doors
*Most people will put small safes in a closet, install a dead bolt on the closet door
*If you have valuables, either store them off the premises or store them in the same room as the safe
*Put lights on timers, be sure and do more than one room
*Put a radio on a timer
*Be sure your curtains are drawn and/or shades are pulled so visability inside your house is limited
*If you do get broken into, be sure you have someone local you can call to come out and fix the damage pronto - broken windows or broken doors
*Let the local police department know you are gone
*Let your neighbors know you are gone
*If you have neighbors with an overflow of cars, ask them to park them in your driveway
*Have a gardener keep up your lawns and flower beds
*If you are leaving a place that snows, make arrangements to have your driveway and walkways shoveled
*In friendly casual conversations, do not tell people you are snowbirds

Carol34446

Have friends in MI who have a place here in FL and every fall when they came down, they had been broken into, more than likely by loosers next door. Put security in several years ago and things have been fine. Would give you peice of mind, but times for lights help too. Enjoy your time in the south.