Among all the burglaries that happen in the US in one year, most of them happen when the owners left the house. It means that most intruders will wait for the perfect time where they can loot the valuable things from your house, which is when you are not around. They will also pick the right target for their operation, such as the house with no or minimum security.
Most burglars will be afraid to enter the house that is still occupied by the owner or family members simply because the chance of getting caught in the act will be higher. This is why you need to always give the impression that your house is occupied while you are away so that you can repel the intruders from trying to get into your property. Here are 5 ways to trick intruders into thinking that your house is occupied while you are away:
1. Use Automatic Timer for Your Lights – Exterior and Interior
How does burglars usually know when a house is empty? By observing the lights. If the lights in your property are kept lit even during the day, it means that no one is around. Normally, people will light their rooms in the evening and turn off the lights in the morning. So, if you don’t do that, intruders will know that you have left your house.
In order to trick the intruders to think that you are at home, you should use automatic lights both in the interior and exterior of your house. Set them to automatically turned on in the evening and turned off in the morning. In this way, you give the impression that someone is staying within the house.
2. Ask Your Neighbours to Receive Your Mails
Another indication that burglars will see to determine whether your home is vacant or not is by taking a look at your mailbox. If there are a stack of mails left there unopened, it means that no one is staying in the house. Knowing this, they will be able to plan the breaking and entering attempt at your property.
In order to give the impression that you are not leaving your house, you should ask one of your neighbors to empty the mail box every morning or evening so that it is always empty. Burglars will suspect that somebody is staying inside the home.
3. Ask a Trusted Person to Take Care of Your Lawn
Intruders will see your lawn when they determine whether they need to target your property for their operation or not. If your lawn seems to be untidy, and no one is taking care of it, it means that nobody is staying within the house. If you are leaving for an extended period, you will need somebody to take care of your lawn if you want to give the impression that you are staying at home.
For this purpose, you can ask your neighbour or someone you can trust to take care of your lawn every few days so that it stays tidy. Don’t forget to ask the person to trim the bushes around the house so that burglars won’t use these bushes to hide their body while attempting to raid your property.
4. Don’t Leave a Message that You are Not Home
When you are leaving your home even for a short time, just lock all the doors and windows and bring the keys with you. Don’t tell anyone that you are leaving your house except your family members that you can notify via text messages. You don’t need to leave a note in front of the house that you are not at home right now.
This is because burglars will see the note and they will know that your house is currently empty. Thus, they can easily break into your house without having to worry about getting caught.
5. Play Automatic Music Sometimes During the Day
If you go out during the day, such as going out for work and leave your home empty, you should be aware that intruders might decide to enter your house during the day. There are lots of burglaries that happen during the day when the owners leave their home for work. So, in order to trick them into thinking that you are staying at home, having some automatic music played during the day will do the trick.
The only thing that you need to pay attention is not to play the music too loudly. You should just leave it at normal volumes. Also, don’t play the music continuously. Just a few songs here and there throughout the day will be enough to trick the intruders.