Easy Security Tips In a Condo or Apartment Complex
You’ve moved on up and now you own your own place. What do you get? Even more junkmail than before. I think when you sign all of those papers you somehow get on more mailing lists. It might be junk to you but to the wrong person with probing eyes you can have one big exposure problem. The nice thing about living right next door to a bunch of people is that you can look out for each other. If something happens to your building it also happens to your neighbors. It is in everyone’s best interest to look out for property values and security in the complex. There are a couple of simple things that you can do to make sure that cyber thieves don’t have an
easy time of getting your information. With common mailboxes, garbage cans and even wireless Internet connections that have the ability and range to reach multiple units–you need to watch out for yourself.
Don’t put papers and forms with personal information in the recycle bin and garbage. Too many people have access. I’ve seen people digging through looking for bottles and cans and who knows what else. Even some “junk mail” has information that could be used against you. It should be disposed of properly. Shred it all!!!
2) Change the locks once you’ve moved in, so that you’ll know that you’ll be the only one with the key to you’re apartment. There might be instances wherein the past residents of the apartment may come back for some stuff they forgot. Friends and relatives of past residents may not know about that they had moved and still have copies of the key to the apartment. New locks will prevent them from getting into the apartment.
3) “Get to know your neighbors and the people in the building. Ask for their help in keeping an eye on your apartment when you’re gone, at the same time offer your help in keeping an eye on theirs when they’re gone. Cooperation among you might prove to be helpful in the future.” Maybe the most overlooked security thing you can do is to get to know your neighbors. Look out for each other.
4) Watch out for suspicious people loitering around your area. They might turn out to be burglars or thieves.
5) There are home security systems that are available for apartments and condos. There are systems that can be easily installed, and there are portable ones.
6) Get a renter’s insurance (even if you own the condo and the homeowners covers the outside) to protect your assets and belongings.
7) If you have a wireless router put a password protected lock on it. Protect yourself from cyber thieves. Don’t trust me? Listen to the experts.
One of my friends works for a major bank. She tells me stories all the time about people that lose money right out of their bank accounts. It is crazy how easy it is for people to get what would be useless information to me and make it one of your worst nightmares. Anyway…with all of this taken care of you can enjoy your new place instead.
