Chris Colgan is a seasoned real estate agent whose familiarity with the Northern Virginia area spans his entire life. If you're a prospective buyer who wants to survey all the listed properties in Northern Virginia, click here for a full home search, or if you're considering selling you property, get a free home value report right here. Feel free to contact Chris at (703) 485-1435 for any questions you have about your own property, or the current state of the Northern Virginia real estate market.
How to Protect Your Home While You're Away on Vacation
- Ask a Neighbor to watch your home: Alert your neighbors that you will be leaving town, and to report anything out of the ordinary.
- Don't Post to Social Media: A lot of people don't realize that when they post their whereabouts to social media that they're being heard by more than just their friends. Refrain from posting to social media while you're away - you can wait until you're back home to show everyone what a fantastic time you had.
- Call the Police: It might be a good idea to alert the police that you'll be leaving town so they can patrol your neighborhood and keep an eye on your property here in Northern Virginia.
- Leave Your Lights Off: When people notice that the same lights are on consistently, they will realize that you're not home and this may also alert burglars to this fact. You can also consider purchasing light timers to make it appear that you're home because you can program them to turn on and off in different rooms at different times.
- Put a Hold on Your Mail: An overflowing mail box is a dead giveaway that you are not home. You can go to the post office and alert them that you will be leaving town in order for them to withhold your mail until you return. You could also ask a neighbor to collect your mail for you if you're leaving town.
- Unplug Your Appliances: This is a good way to save money on utilities and to prevent any potential disasters like fires.
- Remove Your Spare Key: People will often leave their spare keys in obvious places, so be sure to remove them if you are leaving.
- Have Someone Watch Your House: This one is pretty self-explanatory, but it's always a good idea to have a friend or relative watch your home for you. Just be sure to alert your neighbors that this person will be watching your home.
Hopefully you find these tips to be useful for when you leave on vacation.
As always, contact me with any questions or concerns you may have about this information or about Northern Virginia real estate in general.
