Vacation and Holiday Home Security Checklist for Las Vegas and Phoenix

To secure your home before a vacation or a busy holiday, lock and physically check every door, gate, and the garage, stop deliveries and make the house look lived-in with lighting schedules, test your cameras and alerts, and leave a clear plan for who responds to what while you are gone. In Las Vegas and Phoenix, add a heat and monsoon check so equipment, yards, and water lines are ready for the weather while the house sits empty. Walk the same route every time you leave and the checklist becomes a five-minute habit.

Before you leave: doors, garage, gates, and deliveries

Start at the front door and move around the home in one direction. Physically test each latch and deadbolt instead of trusting memory or an app status. A smart lock can report that it is locked, but the door has to be fully closed for the bolt to secure it. The same goes for the garage door and side gates.

• Lock every exterior door and accessible window.
• Confirm the status of each connected smart lock.
• Close the garage door and verify it reaches the floor.
• Check the latch on side-yard and backyard gates.
• Remove hidden spare keys from predictable spots outside.
• Bring garage door remotes inside if a vehicle stays parked outdoors.

If a relative, pet sitter, or house sitter needs to get in, give them their own access code. A code can be limited to the dates of your trip and removed when you return, which is far safer than a key under a planter.

Deliveries and the visible exterior

Recurring orders and grocery deliveries keep coming unless you pause them. Review subscriptions a few days before you leave, and use a carrier hold, a pickup location, or a trusted neighbor for anything that still arrives. A camera can show you a package landing, but it cannot move the box out of sight. Our guide to stopping package theft covers delivery habits in more detail.

• Clear packages, shoes, tools, and other items off the porch.
• Make sure decorations and plants do not block the doorbell camera.
• Load luggage without leaving the front door open and unattended.
• Arrange for trash and recycling bins to come back from the curb.
• Hold the mail so it does not pile up.

Keep your plans to yourself

Do not post real-time trip details or countdowns on social media, even on a private account. Your followers include acquaintances, and posts get shared. Save the beach photos until you are home, and ask your kids to do the same.

Make the house look lived-in

A dark, silent house for a week is an advertisement. Lighting schedules fix that cheaply:

• Smart plugs turn lamps on in the evening and off at bedtime. Many people vary the times so the pattern is less predictable.
• Smart switches and bulbs on the security app can follow the same schedule or turn on at sunset.
• Exterior lights and floodlight cameras keep the porch, driveway, and side yard bright after dark.
• A radio or TV on a smart plug adds sound during the evening.
• Yard care continues, so the house does not look abandoned on a long trip.

Because these devices live in the same app as your alarm and cameras, they can also respond to events. A camera that detects a person at night can turn on outdoor lights, for example.

Heat, monsoon, and water checks while you are away

Summer trips overlap with extreme heat and the desert monsoon season, which runs from mid-June through September in both Southern Nevada and central Arizona. Take a daylight walk around the property before you leave:

• Keep the area around the outdoor AC unit clear, following the manufacturer's or installer's guidance.
• Store ladders, tools, boxes, and loose yard items so they cannot blow into a camera view, block a gate, or be used to reach a window.
• Check that the driveway camera shows the drive path, not mostly sky or wall, and that the doorbell camera sees the route to the door.
• Trim plants that have grown into a camera's view.
• Test exterior lights and floodlight cameras.

A summer storm or a failed supply line can flood a floor while nobody is home. Water leak sensors under sinks, by the water heater, and near the washer send an alert the moment they detect water, and a water management valve can shut off the water automatically when a leak is detected. Also tell your local contact where the main water shutoff is.

Test cameras, alerts, and contact information

Run a complete test before the last bag goes into the car:

1. Open the app and confirm each camera is online and the live view shows the right area.
2. Walk through the motion zones and confirm the right phones get the alert.
3. Remove old phones or former household members from notifications.
4. Test connected floodlights and exterior lights.
5. Confirm who receives door, garage, camera, and alarm notifications.
6. Arm the system in away mode.
7. If you have 24/7 home security monitoring, confirm your emergency contacts and phone numbers are current.

After you leave, do one quick check from the app: armed status, lock status, garage position, and camera availability. If you get that "did we lock the door?" feeling an hour down the road, you can answer it from your phone instead of turning around.

Vacation rentals and second homes

Owners of vacation rentals and second homes face the same risks plus a rotating cast of guests. A few practices help:

• Use smart locks with unique guest codes that start at check-in and expire at checkout, so nobody keeps a working key.
• Monitor the property with a security system, and add smoke, heat, and water leak sensors so problems are caught between stays.
• Keep recording limited. Place cameras at entrances, driveways, and parking, not inside living areas, and never in bedrooms or bathrooms. Tell guests where cameras are, and follow your booking platform's rules and local regulations.
• Screen guests by verifying identity and payment and reviewing their booking history.
• Inspect between stays for faulty locks, broken windows, and damaged sensors.
• Give clear instructions about locking up, keeping valuables out of sight, and not sharing door codes.
• Write an emergency plan with local emergency numbers and who to call for a power outage or water leak.

Holiday calendar: what to check and when

Spring break. Families travel, and empty houses with full mailboxes stand out. Run the full checklist above and use the app to confirm the system is armed.

Summer. The longest trips and the hardest heat. Add the heat and monsoon walk, water leak sensors, and lighting schedules. If kids stay home while you work, set up their own user codes and arrival alerts.

Fourth of July. You can arm the system and lock the doors from the app on the way to the fireworks. Fireworks and summer heat are a risky combination, so a monitored smoke and heat detector such as the PowerG wireless smoke and heat detector, connected to your panel, alerts you and our monitoring center even when nobody is home. Before the holiday, read what you need to know about fireworks in Las Vegas.

Halloween. Schedule walkway and porch lights to turn on at dusk so trick-or-treaters do not trip on steps, cables, or props. Use LED or flameless candles in pumpkins and decorations. Answer the door through the video doorbell, keep pets in a closed room and check on them with an indoor camera, and lock every door from the app when the night is over. Put inflatables and string lights on smart plugs so they turn off on schedule.

Thanksgiving through New Year's. Deliveries pile up, homes fill with gifts, and many families travel. Put holiday lights on indoor and outdoor smart plugs so they turn on at dark and off at bedtime, which saves energy and keeps the house looking occupied when you are away. A contact sensor on the closet where gifts are hidden tells you when curious kids get close.

Santa Security and other family-friendly camera features

Smart cameras are not only for security. During December, the Alarm.com app usually offers Santa Security, which lets you place Santa into a snapshot from a compatible camera or video doorbell. To try it:

1. Open the Alarm.com app and tap Video.
2. Choose a live feed from a supported camera.
3. Tap the Santa icon to take a snapshot.
4. Pick a day (full color) or night (black and white) Santa.
5. Resize and move Santa until he looks right.
6. Save, download, or share the picture with family.

It is a simple way to create a holiday memory and share it with grandparents who live far away. If the feature does not appear in your app, contact us and we can check whether it has been turned off on your account.

Leave a response plan with your monitoring center

Monitoring handles alarm events, but someone still needs to handle everyday issues like a package, a gate left open, or an AC repair visit. Before you leave, pick one primary contact and one backup, and write a short shared note with:

• Both contacts' names and phone numbers.
• The dates their access codes should work.
• Instructions for packages and scheduled visitors.
• Which alerts each person will receive and what they are authorized to do.
• Where the water shutoff and electrical panel are.

Make sure the emergency contacts on your monitoring account match the plan. Our UL-listed monitoring center works from the contact list on file, so an out-of-date number can slow down a response.

Get your system ready before the next trip

If this checklist turns up a blocked camera view, an unmonitored door, or alerts that no longer match your routine, we can help. Sting Alarm has protected homes in Las Vegas since 2003 and now serves the Phoenix metro too, with smart home security, cameras, locks, lighting, and water leak detection on one app.

Call Las Vegas (702) 737-8464 or Phoenix (602) 431-1300, or request a free quote.