How to protect your home while on vacation

When you’re traveling with your family, the last thing you want to think about is whether or not your home or property is at risk. Unfortunately, when you travel, that’s the prime time for criminals to strike. They’re more clever than you might think, and they may be aware when you leave town based on things like the lights being used in your home or something you post on social media.

You don’t want to come back to theft or damage when you travel, so with that in mind, the following are some tips to protect your home when you’re on vacation.

How to protect your home while you are on vacation: learn these steps!

Be Careful About Social Media

Social media is such a common part of our daily lives, and you might like sharing vacation photos, but be cautious that if your profiles are public, thieves can see them too.

You should either avoid posting that you’ll be traveling or are currently away. If you post about your vacation, double-check all of your security settings.

You can always wait until you’re back from your trip to share vacation pictures.

Visually Monitor Your Home When You’re Away

There are many great options available so that you can keep an eye on your home no matter where you are, on your phone, or your mobile device. Monitoring your home isn’t just helpful when you’re on vacation. You can also set it up so that you can watch your teen when they’re home from school, for example, or if you have a nanny or sitter.

You can use a camera or maybe a couple inside and outside of your home. They will transmit images or video to your WiFi router, so you can monitor the area in the camera’s view from your mobile device.

Depending on the type of camera you use, the images or video might be stored on a computer, a network hard drive, or in the cloud.

Video doorbells are incredibly popular right now and are helpful not only when you’re away from your house but also when you’re in your home if someone comes to your door.

If you have a doorbell camera, you’ll be able to see not only if someone is poking around but also if you get a delivery or package so that you can have someone put it away before it catches the eye of a would-be thief.

Many video doorbells will feature a motion sensor that will give you a mobile alert and initiate HD video recording.

Another type of technology that will provide you with home security is outdoor lighting equipped with a Wi-Fi camera. Some of these lights will send an alert to your smartphone if movement is detected, and you may be able to speak to someone who’s there or trigger an alarm.

Set Timers On Your Lights

If you have smart home technology, it’s easy to set timers on everything while you’re gone, including lights. If you can change up the lights and have them turn on and off throughout your trip, it’ll make it look like someone is home.

Have Someone Get Your Mail and Trash

Criminals will look in your mailbox if they think you’re away, and if mail is stacked up, their suspicions maybe confirmed. If trash piles up or you have packages stacked at the doorstep, again, it can tip off a criminal that you aren’t home.

It’s essential to have someone come when you’re away and handle these things because there’s also the risk of identity theft if your packages or mail is left out.

Avoiding Fires

It’s not just the potential for an intruder you want to think about if you’re heading out on a family vacation.

You also want to avoid the risk of a fire.

You should unplug electronics and make sure that you’ve stored anything combustible safely away.

You can include fire alarm monitoring with your security system.

Preventing Flooding

Finally, you, of course, don’t want to return to flooding or water damage. You should make sure that you install water sensors or a flood detection system. These will let you know if there’s a leak in your home, so even if you’re away, you might be able to send someone to your house to fix it before the issue becomes more extensive.

Test your sump pump before you leave and clear any debris from your ditches and drains. You should also clean your downspouts and gutters before you head out.

Luv Surf: Best San Diego vacation home rental

Pay attention, family travelers. I’ve recently discovered a gem of a San Diego vacation home rental option. If you’re not in the San Diego area, you probably haven’t heard of Luv Surf, but this local company should absolutely be on your radar before your next visit to Southern California.

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Luv Surf is a boutique rental company with half a dozen beach home rentals in the Mission Beach and Mission Bay area of San Diego. Each home is beautiful, in an ideal beach location, and pet and baby friendly. While in a Luv Surf rental, families can enjoy both beach living and city living. Since I hadn’t heard of them before our stay, I admit to being skeptical. As soon as I opened the door to our vacation home rental at 812 San Rafael in Mission Beach, however, I was blown away. Check out our video:

How Luv Surf differs from standard home rental options:

  1. Service and hospitality: Before I’d even arrived at our home rental, I called my rental contact Sheila (as instructed by Luv Surf). I thought I was calling just to get the key code for the front door, but instead, I got so much more: cheerful instruction for how to find the house, where to park, how to make my way to the rooftop deck (more on that later), where to find the SUPs and beach toys (yep!), and what I’d find complimentary in the fridge. In Luv Surf’s words: wine should always be waiting!
  2. Amenities and extras: Many vacation homes are luxurious and beautiful (and 812 San Rafael is both of those things), but rarely do they have everything you need with turn-key readiness. We were advised to poke through our home’s kitchen cupboards before grocery shopping for our stay, which turned out to be great advice: already on-hand were all the small items we thought we’d need to buy, such as ziplock baggies, spices and oils, laundry detergent, soaps and sponges, and even standard over-the-counter medications such as cold medicine. The bathrooms were stocked with shampoos and lotions, and wine and beer were in the fridge.
  3. Recreation items: We were so excited to see two SUPs (paddle boards) waiting for us, as well as boogie boards, a skim board, kids’ life vests, sand toys, beach towels, and cruiser bikes. This is such a savings in recreation rentals! Right away, we were riding bikes along the many bike paths and paddling around Mission Bay!

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The 812 San Rafael location:

We stayed at the San Rafael home, which is located just three homes from the water of Mission Bay. On the other side, it’s only one short block from Mission Beach. The location absolutely couldn’t be beat for our family: we were in the area to explore San Diego (all within easy driving or public transit distance) and play on the water. Our school-aged kids could absolutely walk by themselves to the bay or the beach, and we could all ride bikes straight from the front door. There’s ample dining and shopping within walking distance—Mission Beach is a lively, vibrant, and fun community—and the beach is lifeguard-manned. Stop by the Luv Surf retail store just a few blocks away!

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The home itself is three stories (in addition to a rooftop deck). The first floor houses one bedroom and bathroom plus the garage (with full laundry facilities). The second floor has two bedrooms (one of which is a children’s bedroom with bunk beds) and two bathrooms (one of which has a jacuzzi tub). Each of these bedrooms have their own private deck. On the third floor is the kitchen and living area (with yet another deck), and upstairs from the kitchen is a fabulous rooftop deck with fire pit, outdoor table, and seating.

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A few extra ‘extras’ you can expect:

  • BBQ
  • granite counters
  • gourmet kitchen
  • espresso maker
  • flat-screen TVs
  • complimentary WiFi
  • pet amenities such as dog beds and toys
  • high chair and baby-proofing items

Get more tips on what to do in San Diego during your stay!

A word on parking:
The home is located in bustling Mission Beach, which is notorious for having little street parking. The property features two spaces to park: in the single car garage or in the parking space adjacent. The garage and space are located at the back of the house, in a narrow alley. We have a standard-sized minivan, and had a hard time fitting into the garage space (it involves careful navigation). We opted to park in the space instead, which meant that when we had a friend stop by for dinner, she had to find street parking, which was very difficult. This solitary inconvenience would in no way prevent us from renting a Mission Beach home, but it helps to go in aware.

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Rates:

All Luv Surf rentals have rates that change seasonally. The San Rafael house ranges from $325-$620 nightly. It is absolutely a luxury home property. Once there, you’ll save on parking, entertainment, dining, and recreation.

Directions:

Mission Beach is only minutes from all points in San Diego. It’s also less than 30 minutes from Legoland and Carlsbad beaches.

As I disclose whenever applicable, we stayed with Luv Surf as guests of the company. Hosted visits make up-to-date reviews on Pit Stops for Kids possible.