Home is where you spend most of your life’s precious moments with your family. Be it living in an apartment, condo living, or in an entire villa, home is where you feel comfortable and relaxed after a stressful day at work. You may even regard your home to be the safest place on earth but like it or not, no place is always safe as accidents and natural hazards may still occur unexpectedly.
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Last 2013, the Overseas Security Advisory Council OSAC revealed that there has been a distinct decrease in the overall crime rate in the Philippines. Results from the Philippine National Police Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management showed that from 241,988 crimes in 2011, crime has decreased to 217,812 crimes in 2012. These crimes cover pick-pocketing, confidence schemes, acquaintance scams, carjacking, kidnappings, robberies, and violent assaults. Though there was a significant decrease, it is still necessary for you to take safety precaution in safeguarding yourself and of course your family.
Condominium renters and owners alike may even encounter problems on security even with the security established in condominiums. Having a safe abode requires work and responsibility. Yes, you heard it right! Simply locking your door is not enough. Burglars have evolved and have gained enough lessons from past experiences to cope up with the rapid modernization. As such it is important to plan ahead and be prepared to achieve home safety.
The National Capital Region Police Office revealed that condominiums, apartment buildings, and townhouse compounds are hot in the list of criminals. With the ease of access within the building, crooks inside the building would simply pick on the door locks and break inside for the valuables and vandalism is part of the crime as well. More than danger caused by people, natural hazards such as fire may also wreak havoc to your family and your property. Here are some safety measures to keep the home safety of your condo.
Install Alarm systems
Alarm systems are effective in such a way it increases the possibility of burglars to be caught by the police because of heightened fear. Home security system is already a necessity. Every good condo unit puts the safety and security of their homeowners at the top of their list. Having condo security systems includes round-a-clock security guards roaming the vicinities of the condominium, working surveillance cameras, and even charged electrical fences.
With the recent events in the Philippine scene, surveillance cameras or CCTV cameras have been useful towards attaining the truth. Accordingly, the CCTV security systems installed in condominiums have proven useful for revealing the truth behind the statements of the “Vhong-Denise case”. Aside from adding a protection against multiple dangers, alarm systems should have a 24-hour monitoring capacity, even a dishonest baby sitter can be revealed since you can receive security updates and alerts through emails and text messages. Even your most trusted housekeeper or roommate can be detected if he will access your important documents and personal belongings. High technology enables an alarm system to be operated easily in just one click of a button.
Forge Neighbor relationships
Apart from condo home security brought out by high tech gadgets, forging relationships with your neighbors are of huge help. Having strong ties with your neighbors gives you a leverage over other burglars as you will have extra set of eyes looking out for your property other than the surveillance cameras and the security guards.
Safety depends on how you secure your house aside from installing a security system. Good condo units should have homeowner meetings and other initiatives to push the residents towards having a community within and not just any ordinary real estate. Establishing a community for condominium owners is one way of ensuring security and safety within the property.
There should be at least a family member or a trusted person who stays at home. This is due to the fact that not everyone has the same schedule. When no one is at home, you must not forget to secure all the doors and windows. Most importantly take care of the key/s. Your friendly neighbor can help you guard your house.
Sprinkle some water
Other than burglars, natural hazards are also great thieves of properties. Among the natural thieves of properties, fire lands on top of the list. With the demand for condominiums nowadays, developers have made smoke detectors a necessary add-on since one unit’s fire problem is a problem encountered by the entire building.
With the built-in smoke detector for fire protection, a worthy expense than risking your family’s safety. In case of fire accidents, ADT.com cited home security tips on avoiding such hazard. One is to never attempt to charge non-rechargeable batteries because it might explode. Secondly, dry oily rags outside and dispose it inside a metal can. Fire escape plan is a necessary requirement. Condominiums should also have regular schedules of fire drills to keep the home owners on their toes in such alarming situations.
Lock it down, twice!
Locking your doors is not enough to keep your home safe. Even with CCTVs and roaming security guards within the vicinity, burglars have evolved into much wiser and tech-savvy thieves. With the existing set up of condominiums, with only a single door and wall separating each household, this is already heaven for thieves. As such, homeowners are encouraged to install double-locks that are in line with the developer’s aesthetics. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Light it all up
Forget about the ambience and romantic yellow lights. When you will be out on a long vacation, it would be best to have emergency lights in your condo unit to have lights during night time. A strong powered light can shoo bad people away. Remember, evil people are excellent in the dark. When it comes to getting away of things and valuables, the darkness and night time is their best ally.
Be prepared, plan ahead!
Home safety is something that should be planned and assumed ahead of time. You do not prepare for a storm after it hits you hard on the face, right? Excellent preparation is the key towards condo safety and your family’s safety as well. As an owner of real estate in the Philippines where crime is rampant or in just about every part of the world, an alarm system is not a luxury anymore but is regarded as a necessity.
The kind of condo security system or home security in every real estate is crucial for homeowners and prospective buyers. Thus, it adds to the value of your home. Having a safe home entails peace of mind. Effective home security makes you worry-free and confident even you are far away from home. Before buying that condominium or real estate, make sure that the area is safe from harm because keeping your family’s safety should be your number one priority.
