Your bags are packed, you’ve rented your vacation home or condo, and you are ready for a fantastic and relaxing trip.  But how do you keep your home safe while you are traveling?  Here are eight tips to ease your mind and keep your property safe:

1. Ask a friend, relative or neighbor to check in on your house periodically while you are away.  With someone keeping tabs on your home, if something were to happen during your trip (like a hose to your washing machine failing - I know this from experience), you’ll come home to a minor mess instead of a major disaster.

2. Ask the post office to hold your mail while you are on vacation.  Here’s a link to the form you need to have your mail held.  Also, if you subscribe to a newspaper, have delivery stopped during your trip.

3. If you have an alarm system on your home, tell your alarm monitoring company that you are going on vacation and that they should consider any alarms triggered to be real.  If someone is going to be checking up on your house, make sure they have an access code and tell the alarm company that the person is authorized to be in your house.

4. Make arrangements to have your lawn maintained while you are away.  You’ll appreciate not having a wild pasture to mow when you return, and your lawn won’t be a signal to burglars that your home is unoccupied.

5. Unplug small appliances, and check to make sure that appliances like coffee makers and curling irons are not left on.

6. Install timers on several lamps in your home to give it the appearance of being occupied.

7. Lock every door and window in your home, including upstairs windows.  You should also consider unplugging the automatic door opener on your garage doors.

8.  Leave contact information with your family, neighbors and friends so they can reach you in an emergency.

Now if you are ready for a vacation, please visit our website to find incredible vacation rentals at great values!

Have a great vacation!

Scott - 1st Choice Travel Expert