If you’re a snowbird who will be heading south soon to escape the cold winter months, here’s a list of steps you can follow to winterize your home and protect your property before you go. Investing the extra time to properly prepare and secure your home before you depart will free you from the worries of leaving an empty house and minimize costly repair bills.

Yard – Clean gutters to prevent ice dams and allow melting snow to drain away from the house (and not into the basement); trim tree branches located near the home and power lines; arrange for a snowplow service to plow driveway and shovel walkway so your home looks occupied after major snowstorms. Read the rest of this entry »

A video baby monitor is a must-have for all new parents, but did you know that for a little more money you can buy a “plug and play” digital wireless surveillance system that does everything a video baby monitor does, plus lots more? As your family grows, the digital surveillance system that you bought for watching and listening to the baby can also be used to monitor other children in other rooms, as well for watching activity in the backyard. You can also use the system for home security by placing cameras at your home’s entrances and driveway.

One of the biggest advantages of a digital wireless surveillance system over a typical one camera/one receiver video baby monitor is its expandability, which allows you to add cameras for monitoring additional children or locations. Another big benefit of using a digital surveillance system over a conventional video baby monitor is its ability to eliminate static interference caused by other cordless phones, WiFi routers and other wireless devices.

So before buying that off-the-shelf video baby monitor, we suggest that you take a look at the features listed here for a digital wireless video surveillance system, and then decide which gives you more bang for your buck!

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If you are like most people, you’re concerned about intruders getting into your house when you leave it empty and unattended.  The threat of a burglary or other disaster is a constant worry for the absentee homeowner.  Fortunately, there are many easy and effective ways you can safeguard your property which don’t involve hiring one of those expensive home security monitoring services.  Here’s a handy do-it-yourself home security checklist you can print out and refer to each time you are going away:

1. Secure and lock all doors, windows and garage doors.  Install deadbolts on doors for added reinforcement and install dowel rods into the track of your double-hung windows or sliding doors to make them more difficult to open. Read the rest of this entry »