Puna House Security and the Mainlander

[Kelena]

You shouldn't presume that no one will wish to stay in your home as a vacation rental just because it is not on or near a "beach". Few homes in Puna are near anything I would call a "beach" (I was raised in Southern California -- what we have here are not beaches to me -- I call them "places to get in the water").

Having a pool is a big plus for a vacation rental. Many would rather have a pool to jump in (or carefully and tentatively step into) than a view of the ocean and no pool. The first place I stayed in Puna had neither a pool nor an ocean view or proximity to a water entry point. What it did have is a very nice owner with plenty of aloha and lots of Hawaiian charm --enough to burn......or at least enough to wrap in a banana leave and steam. I loved it and Puna.

I would investigate having your home as a vacation rental. By the way, I did NOT have a management company manage my vacation rental (so sue me). I handled it myself. I DID have an island contact if something went awry but encouraged my guests to contact me first. Then I triaged the problem (problems were rare) and got someone on it as quickly as humanly possible. No one ever complained after they contacted "guest services" -- that was me.

[Bullwinkle]

Alarm - works for me - second best line of defense - keep things tidy - so it looks like one is at home

Alarm monitoring - these folks good and cheap - about 100$ per year

Cameras - when we did have an intrusion - it was nice to present the cops with photos...... time of day - turned out to be an important detail - we found out they worked early afternoons and helped nail them in the act (as reported to me)

http://www.watchlight.com/

[Lee M-S]

I used to work for a woman who left her home in California empty and unlocked for three years. Her neighbors got robbed, but she didn't.

I think one reason is that she had a human-size figure sitting on a couch. Even though it had a rhino's head, it gave the impression of a person--sometimes startled me, even after I'd worked there a while.

I've built a few life size figures; if you want to build your own, I would recommend stuffing clothes. Use long pants and a long-sleeve shirt; gloves and boots optional. Big chunks of styrofoam can help add stiffness; fill out with crumpled newspaper or what have you (plastic grocery bags work great, but aren't so easy to come by anymore). A styrofoam head, beach ball, or plastic vase can all pretend to be a head. Add an old wig or hat. A sitting figure is more believable than a figure standing still, and best if the "face" is turned away from the most likely place an intruder might look in.

><(((*> ~~~~ ><(("> ~~~~ ><'> ~~~~ >(>

[kalakoa]

Excellent use for an old 13" or 19" TV, leave it tuned to the religious station so the couch-potato scarecrow has something to watch...

[PaulW]

"who goes to the house if the alarm goes off? "
The Alarm company calls the police. But you're right, it's mainly false alarms.

Having rented vacation rentals myself, it's not always about ocean views and beaches. Some mainlanders just want to be in Hawaii to experience the fantastic weather and then go see stuff like Volcano and Mauna Kea. The ocean view isn't worth the extra expense if you're out sightseeing all day.

[msrocket]

We have had several vacation rentals that were not on the water, most with pools. We wanted the Hawaii/Puna ambience with a home-like setting for our base while on the island. VRBO is full of them.

[dragon2k]

Our cabin in Alaska is unlocked 365 days of the year...