I own my house, and I’m the only one paying the mortgage. So whenever I leave for a few days, I can’t help but think about worst-case scenarios the entire time. Did I leave the space heater on and burn my house down? Did I forget to turn off the AC, and now I’m going to have an insane electric bill? Not to mention the absurd number of times I check my Ring camera, mostly just to confirm my house is still standing.And I’m far from the only homeowner doing this. A survey of 2,000 homeowners commissioned by home security company SimpliSafe found that one in five can’t fully relax on vacation because they’re too worried about their house. Nearly two-thirds start questioning whether they locked the door or closed the garage within 30 minutes of leaving. Another 39% are already worrying before they’ve pulled out of the driveway.A New Survey Reveals What Homeowners Worry About Most When They’re AwayThe worrying continues long after they’ve left home. Homeowners think about or check on their houses an average of four times a day while they’re away. Among those who worry about unlocked doors or appliances left running, 59% have actually turned around and driven back to check. Having made it halfway down the road before remembering something I might have left plugged in, I get it.And some of those fears aren’t completely unreasonable. According to the National Fire Protection Association, space heaters accounted for about a third of home heating equipment fires and 88% of related deaths in its 2016–2020 analysis. That’s not the kind of information anyone needs running through their head while trying to enjoy a vacation.You’d think having a security camera would make people feel better about leaving home. Among surveyed homeowners with security systems, 59% have a video doorbell, and half believe a doorbell camera offers adequate protection against a break-in. But nearly half of those who experienced a security incident while away didn’t find out until they returned. Another 39% of people with security systems said they’d missed an alert because it got buried under other phone notifications. The survey also asked homeowners whether they’d trust AI to handle an emergency. Only 36% said they’d let AI respond to a real threat without a human involved, while just 17% said AI monitoring gave them the most peace of mind. SimpliSafe’s Rebecca Zavin said that “human judgment is irreplaceable” during an emergency. Her company also sells professional home monitoring, so that opinion comes with a fairly obvious business interest.I’ll probably still check my Ring camera from a beach chair. I pay too much for that house to spend an entire week pretending I don’t care what’s happening to it. The post Here’s What Homeowners Worry About Most While They’re on Vacation (And Why Security Cameras Aren’t Helping) appeared first on VICE.