Top 10 cheap and effective ways to defend your home from burglaries

1. Pick your location carefully. Location is a huge factor in home security, so buy or rent in the best neighbourhood you can afford. Real-estate agents can help point you in the right direction but they can’t — at the risk of committing housing discrimination — offer detailed guidance, so you must do your own research before you move.
2. Get smart.
 Make it a nightly routine to check the locks. Involve children, too, says Chris McGoey, a security expert and consultant who calls himself “The Crime Doctor.”
 Don’t open the door — and don’t let kids open the door — to uninvited strangers.
 Use your automatic garage opener to close the garage door when you get home before exiting your car.
 Stick around when people are working in your home. Notice what they’re doing. Check after they’ve left to ensure that nothing’s missing and that no one has left a window or door unlocked as a way to break in later.
 Door mats, flowerpots and fake rocks are the first places burglars look for your spare key. Instead, give it to a trusted neighbour. Train children (especially teens) to keep key locations, alarm codes and other family security information private from their friends.
 Check in with family as you come and go. When you get home, phone to say that you’re getting out of the car and are almost at the door; require kids to check in when they arrive home or leave.
 Have a family discussion to plan what you’ll do in case of a break-in or home invasion. Whoever can escape should, McGoey says. Although the first instinct of many men may be to stay and defend their family, it’s better to get reinforcements than to get hurt.
3. Call the police. Many departments have a home-security inspection program. A designated officer walks through your home looking for weaknesses and advises you on alarm systems, locks and lighting within a modest budget.
4. Get a dog (or pretend to). A dog won’t make your home impregnable, but it can make it look less approachable. You don’t want a pooch? That’s OK. Post a “beware of dog” sign anyway. McGoey, who doesn’t have a dog, has a sign and makes a point of asking service people to wait before entering his property so he can “put the dog in the house.” “The sign is cheap,” he says. “It makes people think twice.”
5. Upgrade your house number. You want your home’s street number easily seen in the dark from across the street so police and fire fighters can find you pronto in an emergency. Many fire departments or city or county governments sell inexpensive reflective street numbers. Whatever type you use, place it where it can be easily seen. Keep plants around the number well trimmed.
6. Cultivate the lived-in look. When you’re gone, don’t let stuff like newspapers, real-estate cards and pizza fliers accumulate in front of your door. “Make it look lived-in, even if you’re just gone for the weekend,” McGoey says. Before you leave, consider how your home will appear on the outside and avoid these classic mistakes that are like waving a red flag to invite burglars:
 Leaving the porch light on 24 hours a day.
 Leaving the trash out on Friday for pickup on Monday.

7. Doors: Thieves prefer the easy route, which is usually a door. Creeping out a window is hard, and it’s far more difficult when carting out a load of loot. Thieves typically test a house by first ringing the bell to ensure no one’s home, then trying the door handle and perhaps putting a shoulder to the door to see how solid and how firmly attached it is. To enter, the usual tool is a pry bar or a strong kick of the boot. Sadly, many doors fly open easily.

 Upgrade the lock. You can buy a good Grade 1 (commercial grade) or Grade 2 deadbolt. No need for a locksmith; you can install it yourself;
 Reinforce the strike plate. The strike plate is the metal plate in the doorjamb into which the bolt slides. Strike plates, typically held in place by two half-inch wood screws; pull easily from the jamb, especially in older homes. Replace yours with a heavy-duty brass strike plate that accepts up to six screws. Use 3-inch screws that screw into the doorframe. “Now you can kick on the door and your foot will fall off before it gives in,” McGoey says. Reinforce all doors leading outside, including the door between the garage and house;
 Get a better door. Replace your hollow-core door (easily kicked in) with a solid wood or metal-clad door.
8. Windows: Keep your windows from opening more than 6 inches. Install replacement windows that include this as a built-in feature or cut a wooden dowel 6 inches shorter than the height of each window and drop the dowel into the metal gutter of each window frame so the window can’t be opened fully.
9. Secure the perimeter:
 Outdoor lights. Replacing porch lights and other outdoor lights with motion-sensor lights is cheap and easy.“They don’t know for sure if you’re home or (if it’s) a sensor light,” McGoey says. “Burglars are all about taking the easiest path of resistance,” so most will flee. Program it to turn off in 30 seconds. Put sensor-triggered lights all around the perimeter of your home.
 Erect a fence. Even a 3-foot fence helps create a psychological boundary that helps in deterring intruders, McGoey says. “It says, ‘This is my house, my property.’ People are going to be reluctant to step over that fence.” Higher fences may be appropriate in high-threat neighbourhoods. Before building a fence, check with your city or county planning office. Most require a permit and many restrict the height and even building materials.
 Eliminate hiding spots: Trim the trees and shrubs. A pruned and maintained landscape robs intruders of hiding places. It also signals to outsiders that your home is cared for and probably more secure. Put sensor-triggered lights all around the perimeter of your home.
10. Alarms: What alarm is best? The one that makes the worst, most god-awful noise says a security expert. Many people spend thousands of dollars buying, leasing and installing electronic alarms, and then they sign contracts requiring them to shell out thousands more to a company that monitors the alarm. Don’t, McGoey says. He says the most effective part of these systems is the warning sticker on your window or the sign in your yard. Otherwise, except for elderly residents and second homes with absent owners, there’s no need for expensive monitoring. A 30-second alarm blast should scare away intruders. Also, newer alarms can be programmed to do what monitoring companies do first anyway: phone you (or text you) when the alarm has been tripped.

(Information from MSN Real Estate page)