3 Tips for Buying a Home Safe

Home safes are skyrocketing in popularity as more and more people realize their effectiveness. But what if you’ve never shopped for a safe before? What criteria should you be using for your purchase? How can you be sure that you’ll recognize a good deal when you see one? Here are just a few tips for finding and selecting a home safe.

1. Determine Your Needs

Why are you buying a safe? You might need a different model depending on your reasons for purchase. For example, if you’re worried about fires and floods destroying your documents, you’ll need something with internal temperature control to protect them from harm. On the other hand, if you just want to deter thieves from the family jewels, fireproofing doesn’t matter that much. If you have valuables like that of firearms you need to keep these safe as them being stolen can end up with them being used to commit crimes. You’ll also want to purchase house safes of the right size, to contain even your hunting AR-10 rifles, ammo and accessories.

2. Think About Pricing

Safes can run the gamut from “seriously cheap” to “ridiculously expensive.” You’ll need to draft a budget before you go shopping. Keep in mind that the listed price of the safe won’t be the final price charged to your credit card; you’ll also be responsible for things like delivery, installation and product insurance. Installation in particular can get expensive, especially if you’re sinking it in a wall rather than leaving it out. If you are ordering the safe online this can be an added expense as shipping a heavy item can really start to get expensive. You want a heavy safe though as you do not want a burglar able to carry your safe out of the front door without breaking a sweat.

3. Read Reviews and Ratings

Last but not least, always read reviews for a home safe before you actually buy it. You might find the manufacturers have exaggerated its special features, or there might be customers who reveal painful truths about how easy it is to break through the combination. You can learn from their misfortune if you take their words to heart. Don’t buy anything that has one-star reviews, and think twice before taking a chance on anything with two or three.

These are just a few things to keep in mind as you look at safes for home valuables. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you feel secure in the purchase decisions that you’ve made. If you still feel uneasy even after locking your possessions in the safe, it might not be the right one for you after all.