Exterior security tips for your home begins at your street, because that is where most burglars often begin evaluating your house. The appearance of your home from the street can either invite intruders or send them looking for easier targets.

So let us head to the curb for a burglar's eye view of your home. Start by examining the landscaping around your home. Overgrown or badly placed shrubs can provide convenient hiding places, and they obscure your view of anyone approaching your home. Tree branches near the house can provide a ladder of opportunity to upper level windows or a skylight. Even an unruly lawn, which gives a nobody's home look, can be a magnet for burglars.

How easy is it to get to the windows and doors of your home? A burglar will assess how quickly and quietly he can get in and out of your home. An unfenced backyard that opens on an alley or an attached garage that does not have windows visible from the street or a neighbor's house can make for undetected access and exit. Pick up the yard and driveway regularly, because old papers piling up by the front door are a signal that the home's empty or that nobody uses the front door. Ladders, picnic tables, and lawn chairs can become steps to reach windows so store them out of sight when not in use.

Saw off branches close to the house or those that hang over the roof. On taller trees near the house, remove all limbs less than seven feet from the ground to prevent anyone from climbing them to access the second floor. Cut back or remove tall shrubs near doors and walkways. The same goes for plantings that block the view to your windows, especially basement windows. Keep plantings trimmed to a height of three feet or shorter.

Use gravel or pebbles under windows and around sheds, because it is noisy underfoot. Plant low growing thorny bushes. Clear the view to your neighbor's homes by trimming back bushes and trees. While you may enjoy your privacy, allowing your neighbors a clear view of the exterior of your home is a smart security choice.

The overwhelming array of options in home automation can stress out even the most organized of people when it comes to constructing a home. Most home electronics choices are limited to the consumer's knowledge of what is possible. Have you consider what an automation system could provide you?

A home automation system could play different music in each room, save energy by adjusting shading of natural light, pause the television when the doorbell rings, as input switches to a camera view of the front door. Other services that can be provide is that one set of controls to manage all of your home electronics, keep your family safe and secure, whether home or away, and even broadcast the home theater to the rest of the house.

Do you have a morning wakeup routine? A home automation system can assist you with your wakeup. Automation could gently ramp the lighting in your bedroom from off to fully on over the course of ten minutes, after your alarm clock has sounded. When you climb out of bed, the touch screen in your room will show the current weather, while the television has been turned on and tuned to your morning news channel. Then walk into the bathroom and hear your favorite radio station over the speakers.

As you head to the kitchen, grab a cup of coffee that your coffee pot automatically brewed, and hear a reminder announced that, "Today is a special day." When it is time to leave for work, just press a command on your touch screen to secure your home while you are away. Receive a photo alert if someone rings the doorbell while you are gone, and then use your cell phone to open the garage door to let them in if necessary.