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Your Home Is An Investment - So Keep It Safe

If you look back at your financial history, it's probably pretty likely that the biggest investment you ever made was your home. The property certainly doesn't come cheap these days, and chances are you will still be paying your mortgage up for some years. For this reason, your home is clearly somewhere that needs protecting. You wouldn't invest in, say, a piece of gold, and leave it lying around on the street free for the taking now, would you? In the same vein, you should never leave your home at risk of things like break-ins - and this is even truer if you run your business from home as well. Here are a few things you may want to consider to improve your home security and keep your priciest asset firmly where it belongs: in your hands.

Insurance

A scary amount of people currently don't have home insurance. Remember, even if you rent your property, it can still be worth taking out a policy, even if only to protect your personal contents. If you run a business from home like so many people do these days, this shouldn't usually mean that you need to take out business insurance. Speak to various providers about the length their cover reaches and what level of protection you are eligible for. For example, if you have business equipment such as scanners or multiple computers in your home, you may only be covered on these up to a certain value. Typically, there are three types of business coverage on home insurance: clerical business use, regular business visitors to the property, and other business use. Discuss with an expert what your business needs are and what type of coverage you feel would work best for you.


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Physical protection

Suffering a break-in is pretty much every homeowner's nightmare. Even if you are up to your neck in insurance and you know you can get your money and items back, it can still be traumatic and scary. Make sure your property is secured with all the latest state of the art security features, such as http://www.strictlyleds.co.uk/led-flood-lights. After all, many burglars strike under cover of darkness, so it can be beneficial to have motion sensor lights to alert your neighbours even if you are not in the house. An internal alarm system and security cameras are also key pieces of kit that can both deter and catch criminals.

Keeping on top of maintenance

When so many of us are so busy with work, taking good care of our homes often falls to the bottom of our list of priorities. However, if you continue to neglect your property, you could end up with somewhere that is no longer safe to live in - and you may have to give the whole thing up. The best piece of advice for this is to sort things out as soon as you notice them; don't wait it out and see if they get better by themselves, because chances are they won't!

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