Step 21: Secure Your New Home

Suggested Security Measures

1. Rekey all of your door locks. You just never know who still has a key to your new home. Better to be safe than sorry and have a locksmith rekey the existing locks on all of your exterior doors. This is a MUST for all buyers. They can rekey all of the exterior locks so you only have one key which opens all of your exterior doors. We recommend having at least one deadbolt on all exterior doors. We highly recommend having this done the day you move in or the day after to be safe.
2. Install an alarm system. Plan to spend $100 – $300 on installation depending on if you want motion sensors, door windows, glass break alarms, etc. It can take a week or more to get an appointment so we recommend calling now and setting up the appointment for the day of or the day after closing. Remember, you’re most likely to get broken into the first week you’re in a new home. Thieves look for people moving in as they know they are generally easier to burglarize as they don’t have many safety features set up yet.
3. Put a peephole in your front door if it doesn’t already have one. This isn’t hard to do and can normally be installed by a handyman.
4. If you have a sliding glass door, buy a thick wooden dowel and keep it in the door track on the floor when the door isn’t open. We also recommend adding a jimmy plate and an auxiliary lock to any patio doors.

Things We Recommend But Are At Your Discretion

1. Install Door Devils on each of your exterior doors. These simple strike plates are highly effective at preventing your front door from being kicked in. These items are simple to install with a drill. This is a must-have for single-family homeowners and is a product we install on all of our homes and investment properties. Here is a great article about the effectiveness of Door Devils. Please note that these items cannot be purchased anywhere locally (ie. Home Depot, etc) and must be purchased online directly from the Door Devil company.
2. Consider installing a Night Lock on the back or side doors you won’t use every day. They are highly effective at preventing someone from breaking in. 
3. If you have any glass in your front door or windows at or below ground level, We recommend installing Shatter Safe on your windows. It’s a clear plastic film that covers the inside of your window (you can’t even tell it’s there) and makes it virtually impossible to break the glass and enter the home.
4. Add a dusk to dawn light over all exterior doors and consider a motion detector. Search for Dusk to Dawn lights on Home Depot.
5. If you are buying a single-family home with a garage and the garage has a window, consider putting a curtain or shades over the window so others can’t see inside your garage. Definitely add Shatter Safe to your garage window as it’s a prime spot for a break-in.

Criminals are known to watch new people moving in to see what kinds of valuables you’re bringing into the home such as TVs, computers, etc.