A home should be a place where you can be safe, a haven.  However, since there are no burglar-proof houses, there are ways to make your home harder to burglarize.

A good tip would be to pretend to be the burglar.  Put yourself in the burglar’s shoes.  How would you rob your house if you were him? Be objective. If you find weak spots in your security system, find ways to change them.

Install deadbolts.  Most burglars are experts in “loiding”.  Loiding is simply slipping credit card in between spaces to depress the latch tounge of a door knob and unlocking the door.  A deadbolt is a good deterrent for loiding experts. 

Don’t leave spare keys in obvious hiding places like under flower pots, mailboxes or welcome mats.  If you need to hide a spare key, hide it in unlikely or hard to reach places.  Change hiding places as often as you can. 

If you have a security alarm system, conceal the wires.  Burglars find exposed wires so that they can disconnect the system. 

Don’t leave notices like “Be Back After 30 Mins” and other similar messages taped to your door.  These act like welcome mats to burglars.

Make your house looked “occupied” at all times.  Install lights that can be operated by timers.  Always pick up newspapers from the yard immediately. 

A dog is always a good security guard.  Small noisy barking dogs are good watch dogs since burglars don’t want to be noticed when they do the deed. 

Remember that a good security system should have layers.  Install as many different types as you can, so that if one system fails, you will have a back up.  And while they may not prevent a burglar, it will help slow him down.