Northern Virginia Homeowners - vacationing tips

Northern Virginia Homeowners – Tips for while you are away!

Vacationing is fun anytime of the year but with this summer starting to ease into many families' summer vacations, we’ve compiled some tips on preparing your home for your absence.

1 - Consider a house sitter. Maybe a trusted neighbor, relative, or family friend can look after your home and/or affairs while you and the family are away. Consider leaving an information sheet or packet about the house for the sitter as well - alarm system information, important phone numbers, how to work the appliances and electronics, spare key location, and circuit breaker panel location.

2 - Security System - Consider the installation of a home security system. Most vendors will try and sell you the whole ball of wax, while an effective and efficient purchase would be monitors on all doors to the outside and motion sensors for high traffic areas. Consider a passphrase that you and your emergency contacts will remember easily for false alarms. Security Systems also normally convey when you go to sell your home. This is a nice add-on.

3 - Periodical Services - Please consider putting your mail on hold at the local post office, and also telling the newspaper company to hold your paper. Piled up mail or newspapers is a clue to potential burglars that your home is absent or unattended to. Of course if you have a house-sitter, they can gather these periodicals daily. Or a neighbor can gather your mail and papers every day for you.

4 - Lighting - Consider motion detectors on outside lighting and automatic timers for some selective inside lighting. These features can help convey the presence of someone while you are away. Don’t tip off burglars that you are away.

5 – Separate Power circuit - Many homeowners keep a second refrigerator or freezer in their garage for additional food storage. With high heat and summer thunderstorms, your power can fluctuate while you are away. Since most garage electrical outlets are on Ground Fault Indicator (GFI) circuits which can trip off very easily. Your stored food will unfortunately spoil with an outage or fluctuation. Consider having an electrician install a dedicated, non-GFI power circuit for your garage refrigerator or freezer so that you do not return from vacation with a spoiled surprise.

There are other handy tips to prevent burglaries – refer to your local police department for crime prevention services.

Websites for reference:
Alexandria City - http://alexandriava.gov/police/pd_csp_crimeprevent.html

Arlington County – http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/police/citizens/reference/crime_prevention/policecitizensreferencecrime_preventionPreventionsafety.aspx

Fairfax County - http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/POLICE/police15c.htm

Loudoun County – http://www.loudoun.gov/publicsafety.htm

Prince William County – http://www.pwcgov.org/default.aspx?topic=04003600225

Happy vacationing!
Ed and Stacy