People are quite frequently shocked to find out that burglars and home invaders are cowards. It makes sense when you think about it: Their way of making money is not exactly given to people who value a hard day's work. But that raises the question of how you deal with a coward.

The answer can be as simple as scaring them off, but the exact method of doing that is a bit more complicated. So, we are going to go over 7 security features to add to your home. These will cover specifically things you can do to deal with people who would break into your home.

1. Get an Alarm System

Let's start with the obvious stuff. An alarm system will help your home stay safe from anyone who tries to force entry. How? Remember, burglars are cowards. If they hear an alarm, they will more likely run than try anything fancy. They can't be sure of whether or not the alarm calls the police, so they are likely to drop everything and run the moment it goes off.

2. Combine Motion Sensors with the Alarm

The most reliable way to implement a security system is with motion sensors. Most alarms will come with at least a few that will detect whether your front or back door is open. But you can include sensors that watch your hallways, your porch, and even your garage.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the more motion sensors you have, the more secure your home is. It ensures that no matter how strange an intruder's pathway into your home is, your alarm system will be empowered to detect them and sound the alert to scare them off.

3. Consider Window Break Sensors

The biggest weakness of motion sensors is that they only detect things that are already inside or around the house. If you want your alarm to go off as soon as an intruder tries to make an entrance, then you should look into window break sensors. These do exactly what you expect.

But they also do a little more. Not only do they detect when windows are broken, they also detect when windows have had pressure and impacts applied to them. This means they even work if you have stronger windows that do not break easily.

4. Upgrade Your Windows

And while we are on the topic, getting stronger windows is a great way to improve security. Larger windows are the preferred targets for many thieves, as they allow the thief to enter your home by breaking them, while at the same time being easier to climb through than smaller ones.

But just like how an intruder is unlikely to stay in a home after an alarm has been sounded, an intruder is also unlikely to make a second attempt at breaking a window. The reason is a combination of the sound it makes and the uncertainty factor.

If a window does not break after the first try, then a criminal has to make a decision: Do they try again? Will another try be more noticeable? Will it even be successful? These are the questions you want a potential intruder asking, as the answer they arrive at is usually to flee.

5. Upgrade Your Garage Door

One of the most consistently overlooked vulnerabilities in a home is the garage. People oftentimes assume that their garage is secure because the door requires a button to open. But it actually does not require a button at all. Many older garages can just be lifted up by hand.

This creates a situation where an intruder can avoid the front door and breaking windows by just lifting up the garage door. And since most security systems neglect the garage door as well, this is a pretty reliable way to force entry with little effort.

Even newer garages will not always have a lock. Fortunately, a lock is easy to install, or at least easy to get a contractor to install.

6. Get to Know Your Neighbors

There are two layers to this security precaution.

The first is that the better your neighbors know you, the more likely they are to notice if someone unusual is in your home. This can make a big difference if you do not have a real security system set up yet, as it can cause them to call the police.

But we mentioned a second layer to getting to know your neighbor. This is unlikely to come up, but most break-ins are actually perpetrated by people who know the victim. That is more complicated than you might think, however. No one breaks into their close friends' homes.

They break into the homes of acquaintances, coworkers, and family members. It is extremely unlikely that they break into a neighbor's home… Unless they don't know the neighbor.

Knowing your neighbors can save you a lot of trouble.

7. Combine Alarms with Smart Locks

Many alarm systems will work well as the center of a smart home network. And if you have a smart home network, then you can easily implement smart locks into your home.

There are a few potential advantages of smart locks, but one thing you can be sure of is that they will lock themselves even if you forget to lock the door. Since most thieves break into homes by trying to open random front doors, this prevents a serious mishap.

Smart locks can also be opened with an app, meaning this will not lock you out.

Conclusion

As you can probably tell, the core of good security precautions is knowing how potential intruders think. But it is also about making sure you do not overthink the problem.

You are not trying to foil a master thief. You are trying to scare off someone who probably did not have much of a plan to begin with. The experts we consulted can be found here: https://smiththompson.com/ and they are always willing to answer more questions.