- Region
- Águilas
- Alhama de Murcia
- Jumilla
- Lorca
- Los Alcázares
- Mazarrón
- San Javier
-
ALL AREAS & TOWNS
- AREAS
- SOUTH WEST
- MAR MENOR
- MURCIA CITY & CENTRAL
- NORTH & NORTH WEST
- TOWNS
- Abanilla
- Abarán
- Aguilas
- Alamillo
- Alcantarilla
- Aledo
- Alhama de Murcia
- Archena
- Balsicas
- Blanca
- Bolnuevo
- Bullas
- Cañadas del Romero
- Cabo de Palos
- Calasparra
- Camping Bolnuevo
- Campo De Ricote
- Camposol
- Canada De La Lena
- Caravaca de la Cruz
- Cartagena
- Cehegin
- Ceuti
- Cieza
- Condado de Alhama
- Corvera
- Costa Cálida
- Cuevas De Almanzora
- Cuevas de Reyllo
- El Carmoli
- El Mojon
- El Molino (Puerto Lumbreras)
- El Pareton / Cantareros
- El Raso
- El Valle Golf Resort
- Fortuna
- Fuente Alamo
- Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
- Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
- Isla Plana
- Islas Menores & Mar de Cristal
- Jumilla
- La Azohia
- La Charca
- La Manga Club
- La Manga del Mar Menor
- La Pinilla
- La Puebla
- La Torre
- La Torre Golf Resort
- La Unión
- Las Palas
- Las Ramblas
- Las Ramblas Golf
- Las Torres de Cotillas
- Leiva
- Librilla
- Lo Pagan
- Lo Santiago
- Lorca
- Lorquí
- Los Alcázares
- Los Balcones
- Los Belones
- Los Canovas
- Los Nietos
- Los Perez (Tallante)
- Los Urrutias
- Los Ventorrillos
- Mar De Cristal
- Mar Menor
- Mar Menor Golf Resort
- Mazarrón
- Mazarrón Country Club
- Molina de Segura
- Moratalla
- Mula
- Murcia City
- Murcia Property
- Pareton
- Peraleja Golf Resort
- Perin
- Pilar de la Horadada
- Pinar de Campoverde
- Pinoso
- Playa Honda
- Playa Honda / Playa Paraíso
- Pliego
- Portmán
- Pozo Estrecho
- Puerto de Mazarrón
- Puerto Lumbreras
- Puntas De Calnegre
- Region of Murcia
- Ricote
- Roda Golf Resort
- Roldan
- Roldan and Lo Ferro
- San Javier
- San Pedro del Pinatar
- Santiago de la Ribera
- Sierra Espuña
- Sucina
- Tallante
- Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
- Torre Pacheco
- Totana
- What's On Weekly Bulletin
- Yecla
- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Alicante Today Andalucia Today
Protect your home when you’re away: House Sit Match a beginner’s checklist
Are you planning on taking an extended trip? Do you have a lovely holiday home that remains empty part of the time? Or are in the process of relocating from one country to another either to Spain or back to the UK? All of these exciting journeys can leave your home empty, and potentially they also leave your house vulnerable.
Holiday homes can easily fall prey to opportunist prowlers if not occupied
Double locking all the doors and windows might at first seem a one-step no brainer to securing your home when you are away. But is this really all you can do?
What steps can you take before your trip or holiday?
1. Cancel any parcels, regular post, and deliveries alike newspapers - Anyone can look through your letterbox and see the carpet of letters and promotional mailings littering the floor. As it’s unlikely that you’re using them as a decorative feature in your hallway, they act as a clear sign that you’re not at home.
2. Make sure your most treasured valuables, including photographs, jewellery, and expensive gadgets, are discreetly put away - If they’re not immediately obvious through the window, the temptation posed to potential intruders is likely to be less.
3. Remove your spare key from its usual convenient hiding place –
Wherever you’ve hidden it, believe me when I say, it’s not subtle. Under the doormat, in the porch or under a rock, these are the first places anyone would look if they were trying to access your home. Giving it to a friend is a good call as in case of an emergency, at least someone trusted will still be able to access the home.
4. Turn your lights off, or should you keep them on? - New technology allows you to compromise. You can easily buy electronic timers which you can personally programme to turn lights on at night, for example. These can be bought relatively inexpensively and are a worthwhile small investment in increasing home security.
5. Find a housesitter or housesitting couple to occupy your home while you are away - you can find an experienced and trustworthy housesitter online via platforms like HouseSitMatch.com A good housesitting platform will display the profiles of the sitters, if they are police checked, reviews and they will allow you to select from portfolio of housesitters on the site. Many of the sitters are retired couples who find housesitting to be a great way to travel on a fixed budget. All you have to do is register as a home owner and pay a small annual membership fee, the housesitters come for free. They exchange their experience in pet and home care for free accommodation in the period you are offering in the ‘housesit assignment’. There is also online help via Livechat to make sure you get all the support you need. HouseSitMatch is an award winning website (2016 The Guardian Small Business Network) and their reviews are on Trustpilot.
Many housesitters are retired professionals housesitting to travel on a fixed budget
6. Avoid publicising your trip until after your return - This is a relatively new issue to think about. It’s so easy to forget in the world of social media that it’s not only your nearest and dearest who can see your public profiles. If your privacy settings aren’t tightly controlled, it is very easy for anyone to go onto your profile and find out where you live. Your smug Facebook status about getting away from it all acts is a permanent advert that your house is almost certainly empty. Maybe save the celebrating until you’re back…
What can you have in place at home during your trip?
Clearly one of the best ways to protect your home is to give it the appearance of being lived in and there are three key ways to achieve this. .
1. Enlist the help of neighbours -
If you’re part of a close-knit community, one good option is to ask your neighbours for a helping hand. This can include anything from watering plants, taking out the dustbins, and making sure a light is kept on. This is particularly handy during the winter months. Another thing to double check is that you haven’t ordered any deliveries whilst you’re away, as if they are left outside your house for an extended period of time, it’s obvious that there’s no one to collect them. However this doesn’t always offer the perfect solution, particularly if your neighbours are away themselves, are elderly and find movement tricky, or if you live in a more remote location.
2. Have someone to stay - friend or house sitter -
Home insurance typically becomes invalid once your home has been unoccupied for more than a month so it’s important to find a solution. Having somebody to live in the house whilst you’re away is another option to having a kind neighbour or family member to pop in on an adhoc basis or casual arrangement. Housesitters, provided by online companies such as HouseSitMatch.com (link: www.housesitmatch.com), provide a safe alternative. Not only can they take care of all the pre-trip hassle, such as turning lights on/off, taking bins out etc, they can offer in-house pet care if you have animals which need to be looked after. Housesitting offers a two-in-one combo which cuts costs and makes your trip away a lot more affordable. I own a labrador who is friendly to everybody she meets and is therefore a pretty rubbish layer of protection. However, by keeping your faithful guard-dog within your home, it does add that extra layer of security.
3. Keep your pets at home with a pet sitter
Some housesitters are pet professionals who housesit for a change of scene
If you usually keep your pets at the property then the best thing is to leave the pets in their own home with a pet sitter. The property will be occupied as usual, and their presence alone will deter most burglars or opportunist prowlers. Pet sitters with experience are also a great way to make sure your home is safely occupied, and more especially your pets retain their usual routines and any chance of separation anxiety is minimised. What’s more if you make arrangements early the pet sitters for free by offering your home as a ‘housesit’ on HouseSitMatch.com and formalising the arrangement through use of a housesitting agreement to agree terms of the arrangement.
An Englishman’s home is his castle. Bearing this in mind, before your next adventure, it is truly worth using at least some of these tips and taking a few minutes to fortify it!
Cartagena
El Carmoli
Islas Menores and Mar de Cristal
La Manga Club
La Manga del Mar Menor
La Puebla
La Torre Golf Resort
La Union
Los Alcazares
Los Belones
Los Nietos
Los Urrutias
Mar Menor Golf Resort
Pilar de la Horadada
Playa Honda / Playa Paraiso
Portman
Roldan and Lo Ferro
San Javier
San Pedro del Pinatar
Santa Rosalia Lake and Life resort
Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
Torre Pacheco
Aledo
Alhama de Murcia
Bolnuevo
Camposol
Condado de Alhama
Fuente Alamo
Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
Lorca
Mazarron
Puerto de Mazarron
Puerto Lumbreras
Sierra Espuna
Totana
Abaran
Alcantarilla
Archena
Blanca
Corvera
El Valle Golf Resort
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
Lorqui
Molina de Segura
Mosa Trajectum
Murcia City
Peraleja Golf Resort
Ricote
Sucina
Condado de Alhama
El Valle Golf Resort
Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort
Islas Menores and Mar de Cristal
La Manga Club
La Torre Golf Resort
Mar Menor Golf Resort
Mazarron Country Club
Mosa Trajectum
Peraleja Golf Resort
Santa Rosalia Lake and Life resort
Terrazas de la Torre Golf Resort
La Zenia
Lomas de Cabo Roig
CAMPOSOL TODAY Whats OnCartagena SpainCoronavirusCorvera Airport MurciaMurcia Gota Fria 2019Murcia property news generic threadWeekly Bulletin