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I'll be moving into my new retirement home this summer...then leaving it for 8 months while I work out my contract at my overseas job. The home is located in a rural area, with no immediate neighbors. There are homes within view - but a fair distance away. Buying a home under these circumstances may not have been the wisest decision, but it's a done-deal. It's exactly what I wanted and I couldn't pass it up. My intention is to move in my furniture, W/D, and all the bits and pieces needed to make it livable over the summer. (These are currently in a storage unit.) Televisions, stereos, and computer will be left with friends before I go back to work. I have someone who will take care of the yard-work and check things out for me periodically, but he doesn't live in the immediate area.
Can I get recommendations for security devices / measures that might be at least somewhat of a deterent against vandals, or against a crew with a moving van cleaning me out in the dark of night?
I should mention that it's a modest little place; not a home that anyone would likely consider to hold a treasure-trove of loot...which, of course, it doesn't. But what I do have, is important to me.
I'll be moving into my new retirement home this summer...then leaving it for 8 months while I work out my contract at my overseas job. The home is located in a rural area, with no immediate neighbors. There are homes within view - but a fair distance away. Buying a home under these circumstances may not have been the wisest decision, but it's a done-deal. It's exactly what I wanted and I couldn't pass it up. My intention is to move in my furniture, W/D, and all the bits and pieces needed to make it livable over the summer. (These are currently in a storage unit.) Televisions, stereos, and computer will be left with friends before I go back to work. I have someone who will take care of the yard-work and check things out for me periodically, but he doesn't live in the immediate area.
Can I get recommendations for security devices / measures that might be at least somewhat of a deterent against vandals, or against a crew with a moving van cleaning me out in the dark of night?
I should mention that it's a modest little place; not a home that anyone would likely consider to hold a treasure-trove of loot...which, of course, it doesn't. But what I do have, is important to me.
Thanks.
Frank
I got one of em "modest little places" and it didnt stop the yahoos from rippin me off............then again I'm dead center in a large metropolis. To be safe, anything you value...........put in storage!...........also you might want to invest in some solar lights, make friends with the closest neighbours. Better yet, temporarily rent it out so someones always there?!
Eight months is a long time to be away and to rely on something technological to keep it safe. I agree with overtaxedunderpaided to think about a housesitter. A long-term empty house can be (but not aways) a magnet for bored teens to professional thieves.
I'll be moving into my new retirement home this summer...then leaving it for 8 months while I work out my contract at my overseas job. The home is located in a rural area, with no immediate neighbors. There are homes within view - but a fair distance away. Buying a home under these circumstances may not have been the wisest decision, but it's a done-deal. It's exactly what I wanted and I couldn't pass it up. My intention is to move in my furniture, W/D, and all the bits and pieces needed to make it livable over the summer. (These are currently in a storage unit.) Televisions, stereos, and computer will be left with friends before I go back to work. I have someone who will take care of the yard-work and check things out for me periodically, but he doesn't live in the immediate area.
Can I get recommendations for security devices / measures that might be at least somewhat of a deterent against vandals, or against a crew with a moving van cleaning me out in the dark of night?
I should mention that it's a modest little place; not a home that anyone would likely consider to hold a treasure-trove of loot...which, of course, it doesn't. But what I do have, is important to me.
Thanks.
Frank
Since you do have someone coming to check on everything once in awhile, I'd suggest going to either Bed Bath & Beyond or Target; they have security alarms that you attach to your windows & doors.They're extremely loud, small, not seen from outside & you set 'em before you leave. They're also easy to switch off, but an intruder wouldn't know that.There also really inexpensive (a pack of 4 alarms is $10). Also set your lights-inside & out, on a timer, so it looks as if someone's home.
Use timers for lights, even radios and TVs. Make it sound like someone is home.
And use several timers on different schedules, so different lights are coming on and off.
Meet your neighbors, too. Let them know that you'll be away for a bit and ask them to keep an eye on the place. Tell them that you have a friend coming to check mail and such, though, so they don't get suspicious of him. Folks in rural areas are pretty good at keeping an eye out.
Use timers for lights, even radios and TVs. Make it sound like someone is home.
And use several timers on different schedules, so different lights are coming on and off.
Meet your neighbors, too. Let them know that you'll be away for a bit and ask them to keep an eye on the place. Tell them that you have a friend coming to check mail and such, though, so they don't get suspicious of him. Folks in rural areas are pretty good at keeping an eye out.
Yep, your neighbors are your new best friends.
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