If you were to look at home security as a chain, the chances are you would find at least a couple of weak links. It is often said that the garage is the weakest link in most homes. Why is that? It is not just one thing. In fact, there are five things to account for.

1. Leaving the Garage Door Open

Unfortunately, far too many people leave the overhead garage door open indiscriminately. You have probably seen this yourself just driving through the neighborhood. Maybe leaving the garage door open is something even you are guilty of.

Here is the problem with that: your garage is a microcosm of the rest of your house. Burglars are known to take every opportunity they can to choose their targets, and that often means looking through open garage doors to see what is inside.

Incidentally, Vivint Smart Home recommends keeping the garage door closed at all times. Open it only when you need to move things in or out. Vivint even offers a garage door sensor that can be integrated with a home automation system to automatically close the garage door when necessary.

2. Closed Doors Aren’t Always Secure

Although overhead garage doors should be kept closed, a closed door is not always a secure door. Consider the overhead door not connected to an automatic opener. It is manually opened by its owner. It could be down but not locked. Also consider that side garage doors are often left unlocked unintentionally. They are unlocked by their owners but not locked again after the fact.

3. Unlocked Doors into the House

Keeping with the theme of locked and unlocked doors, there is a tendency among homeowners to not lock the door that connects the garage with the main portion of the house. Homeowners don’t think about it because they do not expect anyone to break into the garage.

Smart burglars know this. They know that if they can get into the garage without drawing attention to themselves, they stand a good shot at finding the door leading into the house unlocked as well. Even if it’s locked, it can be breached with a swift kick without anyone in the neighborhood knowing.

4. Garages House Valuable Items

Garages can be the weakest link in the home security chain simply because they house a lot of valuable items. Let’s be honest, how many homeowners actually use their garages to store their cars? Many do not. Many use their garages primarily as storage lockers for stuff that will not fit in the house.

Even when a car is parked in the garage, other valuable things can be stored along with it. Anything a burglar can take quickly and pawn easily is a target.

5. Garages Don’t Get Much Thought

Rounding out the list of five reasons is the reality that homeowners do not tend to give their garages a lot of thought. Garages are almost an afterthought where home security is concerned. As a result, most homeowners don’t take proactive steps to make the garage more secure. It remains the weakest link by default.

Once again, criminals are aware of all of this. If nothing else, the most experienced criminals are keen observers of human nature. They pay attention to what property owners do. They look closely for weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

If you have a garage, do everything you can to protect it against crime. Do not let the garage be the weakest link in your home security chain. If you can take the garage away from a burglar, you reduce your chances of being victimized at all.