We use lamp timers in several rooms all the time, NOT just when we are away. So the light pattern contains no information. Different rooms have different times to turn on or off. It is also convenient to awake and come downstairs and have some lights already on. Also convenient that we can go upstairs without having to switch off those same lights.

Our garage has no windows, so one cannot peek inside to see if there is a car parked or not.

We do have an alarm with a couple of alarm signs.

Anonymous wrote:We live in a nice neighborhood and one of my neighbors told me that there were two recent burglaries in our immediate area. Our parents live close by and come to our house every day when we’re away, but this summer, we will be traveling with them for about a week. We have an alarm system and lights we can control remotely (so it seems like someone is home). We don’t post on social media or even really talk about our travel plans to anyone except to our friends and family.

Given our neighborhood has been recently targeted, and is generally targeted (nice houses, empty nesters who leave town for extended vacations), I feel like we need to do something *more* than just have our parents come by the house once a day, plus we have to figure something out for the one week our parents can’t help us. Should we get a house sitter, and if so, how do we find one that is trustworthy? What exactly does a house sitter do, stay at your house all day? I don’t know how DH will feel about having a complete stranger living in our house. What alternative steps should we take?

maybe have them stay there as much as possible, or one of them at least.

Also, motion sensors that will give you a hit on your phone are useful. Booby traps if you are ingenious and adventurous. (technically illegal, try to figure that one out huh, it will lead you down a rabbit hole.)

Anonymous wrote:
We have a Security /Camera system
Also, our adult child lives close by and will stay over or stop by..
We also let our neighbors know.

+1. We get a text message with a picture when someone approaches our doorstep. Our windows are alarmed. Beyond that, not sure what you expect. With those security features you’ll know when someone breaks in.

We have a Security /Camera system
Also, our adult child lives close by and will stay over or stop by..
We also let our neighbors know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a house/pet sitter. Yes, I stay there, and work remotely from the house. I take in mail, water plants, turn on/off sprinklers, play music, turn on/off lights, open/shut street-facing blinds, etc.

People find me through word-of-mouth. I don't advertise or use any websites/app.

Sometimes I have a friend over, but always clear it with the homeowners and it's like "My friend from work who's a lawyer would love to meet your dog - can I invite her over to play with Rover and let her stay for dinner?" And that's only after I've established a good working relationship with them.

OP here. Interesting, thanks for sharing! I’ll ask around, but so far everyone I know leans on their neighbors or family to check in on their houses.

You can look for house sitters at the most reputable pet care companies in your area. They often house-sit as well for folks who don't have pets, and you can just look at companies are bonded. It isn't inexpensive, but it's much better than finding someone random.

Rover.com has house sitters. We've used rover more times than I can count for our dog and we've never had a bad experience.

That said, we do nothing when we leave. We don't have cameras or an alarm. We just make sure the doors are locked and ask neighbors to take in any random packages that show up. Neighbors also know when we're away in case they see anything fishy.

Thanks for the tip! Does your area not have any burglaries? We live in the burbs of a major city, and there are property crimes such as burglaries anywhere and everywhere within a 40 mile radius of this city, even places that have no highway access and are pretty remote. Crime seems to have gotten so much worse since I was a kid.

I live in a major city. There are breaks all the time, although my small area of the city has far less than others, but they happen within miles of us (15-20 min by car, but still miles). A neighbor had a bike stolen out of her car in the middle of the night. Still, we do nothing special other than lock doors. If someone is really determined to break in they are going to regardless of whatever we do. It's not something I worry about.

^ PP we always have the 3rd car parked in the driveway so it kind of looks like someone is home when we're gone. We're also super close to our neighbors (proximity wise). We pretty much know who doesn't belong on our street and we all keep an eye out for each other. Random people stand out like a sore thumb.

My parents lived in a very rural area. There deterrent was an NRA sticker and alarm system sign. Funny thing is my mom hates guns, the NRA and would never allow guns in the house. The alarm company sign was just a sign. The house had no alarm system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a house/pet sitter. Yes, I stay there, and work remotely from the house. I take in mail, water plants, turn on/off sprinklers, play music, turn on/off lights, open/shut street-facing blinds, etc.

People find me through word-of-mouth. I don't advertise or use any websites/app.

Sometimes I have a friend over, but always clear it with the homeowners and it's like "My friend from work who's a lawyer would love to meet your dog - can I invite her over to play with Rover and let her stay for dinner?" And that's only after I've established a good working relationship with them.

OP here. Interesting, thanks for sharing! I’ll ask around, but so far everyone I know leans on their neighbors or family to check in on their houses.

You can look for house sitters at the most reputable pet care companies in your area. They often house-sit as well for folks who don't have pets, and you can just look at companies are bonded. It isn't inexpensive, but it's much better than finding someone random.

Rover.com has house sitters. We've used rover more times than I can count for our dog and we've never had a bad experience.

That said, we do nothing when we leave. We don't have cameras or an alarm. We just make sure the doors are locked and ask neighbors to take in any random packages that show up. Neighbors also know when we're away in case they see anything fishy.

Thanks for the tip! Does your area not have any burglaries? We live in the burbs of a major city, and there are property crimes such as burglaries anywhere and everywhere within a 40 mile radius of this city, even places that have no highway access and are pretty remote. Crime seems to have gotten so much worse since I was a kid.

I live in a major city. There are breaks all the time, although my small area of the city has far less than others, but they happen within miles of us (15-20 min by car, but still miles). A neighbor had a bike stolen out of her car in the middle of the night. Still, we do nothing special other than lock doors. If someone is really determined to break in they are going to regardless of whatever we do. It's not something I worry about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a house/pet sitter. Yes, I stay there, and work remotely from the house. I take in mail, water plants, turn on/off sprinklers, play music, turn on/off lights, open/shut street-facing blinds, etc.

People find me through word-of-mouth. I don't advertise or use any websites/app.

Sometimes I have a friend over, but always clear it with the homeowners and it's like "My friend from work who's a lawyer would love to meet your dog - can I invite her over to play with Rover and let her stay for dinner?" And that's only after I've established a good working relationship with them.

OP here. Interesting, thanks for sharing! I’ll ask around, but so far everyone I know leans on their neighbors or family to check in on their houses.

You can look for house sitters at the most reputable pet care companies in your area. They often house-sit as well for folks who don't have pets, and you can just look at companies are bonded. It isn't inexpensive, but it's much better than finding someone random.

Rover.com has house sitters. We've used rover more times than I can count for our dog and we've never had a bad experience.

That said, we do nothing when we leave. We don't have cameras or an alarm. We just make sure the doors are locked and ask neighbors to take in any random packages that show up. Neighbors also know when we're away in case they see anything fishy.

Thanks for the tip! Does your area not have any burglaries? We live in the burbs of a major city, and there are property crimes such as burglaries anywhere and everywhere within a 40 mile radius of this city, even places that have no highway access and are pretty remote. Crime seems to have gotten so much worse since I was a kid.

If these house sitters go to their jobs during the day, how does it help?

You have your house pretty well protected. Two more things:

1. PUt some lights in the house on timers. Walking by a house at 9pm with no lights on = it's empty.
2. Put a radio or TV on, to talk radio or similar. Timer if you like, but not vital. In the event they do get in, the voices will scare them away.

And of course no mail or packages stacking up, but I assume you already have that part covered. If you have a car you wont' be using, park it in the drivway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a house/pet sitter. Yes, I stay there, and work remotely from the house. I take in mail, water plants, turn on/off sprinklers, play music, turn on/off lights, open/shut street-facing blinds, etc.

People find me through word-of-mouth. I don't advertise or use any websites/app.

Sometimes I have a friend over, but always clear it with the homeowners and it's like "My friend from work who's a lawyer would love to meet your dog - can I invite her over to play with Rover and let her stay for dinner?" And that's only after I've established a good working relationship with them.

OP here. Interesting, thanks for sharing! I’ll ask around, but so far everyone I know leans on their neighbors or family to check in on their houses.

You can look for house sitters at the most reputable pet care companies in your area. They often house-sit as well for folks who don't have pets, and you can just look at companies are bonded. It isn't inexpensive, but it's much better than finding someone random.

Rover.com has house sitters. We've used rover more times than I can count for our dog and we've never had a bad experience.

That said, we do nothing when we leave. We don't have cameras or an alarm. We just make sure the doors are locked and ask neighbors to take in any random packages that show up. Neighbors also know when we're away in case they see anything fishy.

Thanks for the tip! Does your area not have any burglaries? We live in the burbs of a major city, and there are property crimes such as burglaries anywhere and everywhere within a 40 mile radius of this city, even places that have no highway access and are pretty remote. Crime seems to have gotten so much worse since I was a kid.

Anonymous wrote:Know any responsible college or grad students? I used to house sit for families all the time. Even if the person doesn’t stay the night, they could move your car around the driveway, keep the mail from piling up, have some actual sign of life like trash cans moving, coming and going, etc.

Unfortunately, no, but I will keep in mind to look for one for future trips.

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors have a house sitter, and I always know when they are there. They also have routines that are easy to predict. If I wanted to rob, it would be easy. Honesty, an alarm system would do a better job.

OP here. We have an alarm system connected to 911 and cameras and motion detectors all over the house and yard. I get a ton of peace of mind from being able to check on the cameras 24/7 and that they send me alerts whenever someone or something gets detected by them. There were burglaries in our area a few years ago before we moved in (thankfully they were caught) and that group would case the houses, get to know their routines and do targeted 30 minute break-ins when they knew no one would be home. So scary! You’re right, if someone really wanted to break into our house when no one is home, they could do so. I agree that the alarm is probably the best defense, but I’d like an extra deterrent from someone even trying to get into our house. My friend saw burglars on her security cameras, they decided to leave when they spotted the cameras. But even just knowing that they came by the house is so frightening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a house/pet sitter. Yes, I stay there, and work remotely from the house. I take in mail, water plants, turn on/off sprinklers, play music, turn on/off lights, open/shut street-facing blinds, etc.

People find me through word-of-mouth. I don't advertise or use any websites/app.

Sometimes I have a friend over, but always clear it with the homeowners and it's like "My friend from work who's a lawyer would love to meet your dog - can I invite her over to play with Rover and let her stay for dinner?" And that's only after I've established a good working relationship with them.

OP here. Interesting, thanks for sharing! I’ll ask around, but so far everyone I know leans on their neighbors or family to check in on their houses.

You can look for house sitters at the most reputable pet care companies in your area. They often house-sit as well for folks who don't have pets, and you can just look at companies are bonded. It isn't inexpensive, but it's much better than finding someone random.

Rover.com has house sitters. We've used rover more times than I can count for our dog and we've never had a bad experience.

That said, we do nothing when we leave. We don't have cameras or an alarm. We just make sure the doors are locked and ask neighbors to take in any random packages that show up. Neighbors also know when we're away in case they see anything fishy.

Know any responsible college or grad students? I used to house sit for families all the time. Even if the person doesn’t stay the night, they could move your car around the driveway, keep the mail from piling up, have some actual sign of life like trash cans moving, coming and going, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Do you live in DC? I always have friends who want to come stay in my house while I'm traveling, because I'm close to metro and a short ride away from the tourist stuff. They get a free place to stay in a convenient location, I get my house and pets looked after. And I only ask friends; people I know will be considerate of the house and take good care of my critters. No bad experiences yet and I've been doing it this way for years! (only longer trips... for a long weekend I just get a local pet sitter)

No, we actually moved out of state to my home area, and no one would be interested in staying at our house because it’s not near anything special lol.