What can you do to protect your home if your house keys mistakenly end up in the wrong hands? That’s a concern nearly 2 out of every three American homeowners need to consider closely, according to a new study.
The study, Danger at America’s Doorstep: Who Has Keys to Your Home?, looked at how house owners safeguard– or fail to safeguard– their home keys and secure their house.
The study found that a bulk (64 percent) of American property owners have actually intentionally distributed their home keys outside of their immediate family and almost one-third (27 percent) of American house owners have provided a key 3 or more times.
Every 15 seconds an intruder breaks into a home, house or apartment in the U.S. Burglars are often quick to attack a home’s most convenient point of entry, and absolutely nothing’s much easier than opening a front door with a set of keys. According to John Heppner, President and CEO of Fortune Brands Storage and Security, including Master Lock Company L.L.C., “A lot of Americans undervalue the prospective risks they invite to their homes when they let their home secrets wander.”
Thankfully, there are ways to prevent strangers from entering your home– even if they have your secret. The Master Lock NightWatch™ Deadbolt looks and works simply like a basic deadbolt lock, but it provides a powerful new security feature-a patent pending stopping function that locks out all keys.
To activate, owners simply lock the deadbolt as they would a basic deadbolt and then pull the lever towards them. This easy motion locks the deadbolt into an “engaged” position that shuts out any secret. The lock can just be engaged or disengaged from indoors and can be quickly set up in any basic entry door, replacing any other basic deadbolt.
To safeguard their houses, house owners need to:
1. Keep secrets secured where they won’t be forgotten or left.
2. Do not conceal keys in “secret” locations outside your home-experienced robbers can normally find them.
3. Never attach your keys to anything that notes your address, name or phone number, and never leave them behind in a locked (or unlocked) vehicle.
4. Constantly different your home keys from your automobile keys each time you valet your vehicle or drop it off for maintenance.
5. If they were their own, just offer your secrets to somebody who will watch over them as.