When you hear the term “curb appeal,” you might think about the various attractive features of your home’s exterior that help it to stand out in the neighborhood as a place of beauty. This term is especially important when selling a home — properties with well-kept landscaping and attractive paint will attract more buyers than homes with cracked gutters and rusty tricycles on the lawn.
As it turns out, the concept of curb appeal can also be applied to burglars. Basically, different aspects of a home’s exterior might either invite or hinder burglars. With this in mind, let’s look at some of the ways your home may be enticing thieves and how to remedy this situation.
Overgrown bushes and trees
As WXYZ Detroit notes, burglars are attracted to homes that have big bushes and trees next to the house. They can hide behind the large landscaping features, wait until there are no cars going by and then try to jimmy the window. If you have beautiful shade trees and lovely flowering bushes on your property, especially up near your home, you don’t have to have them removed. Simply keep them smaller and well trimmed so that they will not work as a hiding space. In addition, if you have a shade tree by a window, make sure that the bottom of the tree is trimmed up high enough so that bad buys cannot hide under it. And, if you are in the market for some new landscaping, consider a tree or bush with thorns — anything to help deter nogoodniks from choosing your home.
A lack of security cameras
Pretend for a moment that you are a bad guy wanting to break into a home. One has visible security camera systems around the doors and windows, along with signs and stickers alerting you that they have a home security system, and the house next door is camera free. Which home would you choose to burglarize? Probably the one where you will not be recorded trying to open the doors and windows. Fortunately, there are a number of affordable and user-friendly home security systems from which to choose — and some include some really amazing features like night vision technology.
Dark homes can attract trouble
As Bob Vila notes, many burglars like to work in a cloak of darkness. While trying to save energy and keep your electrical bills lower by leaving outside lights off is an admirable decision, it may also entice bad guys and gals to choose your home over a more well-lit property. Leave on porch lights to discourage criminals from coming near doors, and if you are going to be away for the evening, put some interior lights on timers so it looks like there is always someone at home.
You can still have lovely curb appeal plus a safe home
It is encouraging to know that you can still have an attractive home with many of the features you love, including beautiful landscaping, and still discourage burglars from choosing your property. Install a security camera, keep those trees and bushes trimmed and leave lights on at night, and you will go a long way in reducing your home’s curb appeal to crooks.
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