10 Tips to Keep Your Home Safe While on Your Timeshare Vacation

When you are planning your timeshare rental vacation the entire family will be excited and ready to head out. If you also take the time to plan how to keep your home safe while you're gone, you'll have a much more relaxed and enjoyable time, knowing you don't have to worry about things back home. Here are some tips:

1. Don't let mail and newspapers pile up. Have a neighbor pick up your mail and newspapers every day, or suspend delivery while you're gone.


2. Put lights, and a radio or your TV, on timers. Stagger the timing of when lights go on and off in various parts of the house; have the TV or a radio on in the evenings, timed to go off when you would normally go to bed.


3. If possible, keep a car in the driveway. An empty driveway for days on end is a dead give-away that you're not home. Put your second car there, or perhaps ask a neighbor to park one of their cars in your driveway.


4. Don't leave valuables, such as jewelry, in your home. Take them to a friend or family member for safe-keeping. If you don't have someone with whom to leave them, put them in inconspicuous containers such a kotex box, a soup can, or even in your refrigerator's crisper under the lettuce.


5. Depending on where you live, notify your local police department that you'll be out of town, and ask for a "watch order" on your house, available in many towns and suburbs. Make sure to let the police know of any neighbors who will be picking up mail, watering plants or taking care of your pets.


6. In this day and age you'll want to be careful announcing your absence on Facebook and Twitter. This also goes for messages on answering machines and voice mails.


7. Be sure to leave an itinerary and contact information with a neighbor. Giving the same information to friends and family members is fine, but your neighbor will be the first one to know if something has happened at your home.


8. Make sure all windows and doors have secure, solid locks and double-check that they're all locked when you leave. Also trim hedges and bushes in front of the windows.


9. If you plan to have no one entering your house, notify your alarm company that you'll be gone and give them your contact information.


10. Have a house-sitter move in. There are bonded professionals, or you can ask friends or family members. The safest way of making sure your house looks lived in is to have someone actually living there.