Moving into a new home comes with a lot of new responsibilities, but the first one should be your home’s security. Having a secure home means having a more secure life and not worrying about your family’s safety. You want to protect this investment you’ve made, your valuables inside the home, and the people you share the home with which is why you need to learn a few security tips for the move in.

With burglaries occurring mostly in residential properties more than any other type in the US, it’s important to be ready before anything can happen. Use these five tips for securing your new home.

Secure your doors and windows

Start by securing doors and windows since many times burglaries happen through these access points. You’ll want to inspect your doors to ensure strong frames and protected hinges. If the wood is hollow or you have a mail slot in the door, you may want to consider a replacement door since it may be easy to break down or reach through and unlock.

Install a latch guard, peephole, or additional deadbolt on your front door and then work on replacing the window latches with locks or key-operated levers. Swapping out tempered or laminated glass to a stronger material will help with home security as well.

Get to know the neighbors

One of the easiest ways to stay safer is to meet your neighbors and build a relationship that will motivate one another to keep an eye out on the neighborhood. Your neighbors can help keep an eye on your home when you’re away to look for suspicious activity, but only if they know you and your routines. You can do the same for them to help keep the neighborhood a little bit safer.

Install a security system

You’ll definitely want to work with a professional in your area to install a security system. They will be able to help you put cameras up and point them in the perfect places to monitor, set you up with a motion sensor, and make suggestions on the type of security measures to have for your home.

Light up landscaping and add signs

Head out to the front and back lawn to work on lighting up the house better at night with landscape lighting. Many times a lit-up home with landscape lighting throughout is not going to be a theft target like a darker home with hiding spots would.

You can install motion sensor lighting if you don’t want to leave it on all night. Then put signs up around the house to show that you have a security system inside so that any burglars trying to break in during the day while you’re away will want to go elsewhere knowing that an alarm may go off.

Attempt to break-in yourself

Lastly, stay safe by trying to break into your home to look for vulnerabilities. You can even ask a friend to try to break in to see if they find places around the home that you may not have thought to secure. It will help you to determine what you can see through the curtains from inside, what valuables you’ve left unattended outside, and what areas are easy to access or hiding spots.

Don’t be a victim of a burglary in your new home due to neglecting some safety precautions. Use these tips to secure up your new home so that you can breathe easier during the day and throughout the night.