We live in dangerous times, and keeping ourselves and our families safe is on top of every responsible homeowner’s agenda. Whether you live in bungalow type home or a Makati condo, security is an important concern, and every homeowner should be mindful of criminals, especially skilled burglars and thieves. Even if you live in a well-guarded Makati house or apartment, which features state-of-the-art security and surveillance systems and highly trained security personnel, it is always helpful to keep a few tips in mind in order to safeguard your home and your property.
- Always monitor the people who you let into your home – the refrigerator repairman, the express courier, the seemingly mild-mannered evangelist: these are all guises that can be used by burglars who are regular employees by day and moonlight as thieves by night. For instance, when letting in a plumber to fix your piping, make sure you are checking on what he’s doing from time to time. Not hovering over him, that’s rude, but periodically monitoring what he’s fixing and where. You never know when he’ll go to the backdoor and accidentally ‘unlock’ it.
- Don’t advertise your possessions – take a look outside your Makati house. Can anyone walking by see that you own a high-end computer and a giant flat screen television? If yes, buy some drapes or blinds so that you can cover up those windows. Don’t let people see what you have in your house; this makes it all the more tempting for burglars to break into it.
- Pick up your newspapers and mail as soon as you can – uncollected mail and flyers, catalogues, and newspapers that take too long for you to pick up are telltale signs to burglars that there’s no one home. If you’re going out of town, have your neighbor pick them up for you.
- If you can afford to, install a burglar alarm – burglar alarms may seem too expensive to purchase and so inconvenient to install, but they’re well worth the price and effort when someone tries to break into your home and is surprised by the police the moment they step out.
- Install a safe for your valuables like money and jewelry – a safe is an immediately impenetrable device that burglars almost always do not take the time to crack. The security features of a safe are virtually impenetrable for burglars and even trying to crack one is too much effort. Safes should be bolted down to the floor of your Makati house, or the burglar might just carry it off with him.
