WASHINGTON | In a ritual that takes place at the end of every summer -- and at the close of every winter -- millions of people will soon be locking up their beach homes and mountain retreats for another year and heading back to their principal residences.

But how secure are the houses they leave behind?

Often not very, especially in largely seasonal locations like South Padre Island, Texas, or Snowmass, Colo., where the majority of the houses and apartments are vacant for extended periods and practically no one is around.

According to the Census Bureau, there were 7.9 million seasonal properties in 2009. That's an awful lot of television sets, DVR players, appliances and personal items such as skis, snowmobiles, surfboards and personal watercraft that are up for grabs, at least potentially.

The good news is that although more remote destinations such as Sandpoint, Idaho, or Eagles Mere, Pa., seem like great feeding grounds for thieves, these seasonal ghost towns rarely attract criminals because they're just too far away. There's simply too much travel time involved.

''Robbers are a lazy bunch," says Christine Karpinski, a vacation-home-rental author and blogger based in Austin, Texas. "They tend to go for the low-hanging fruit."

The typical thief also tends to stick out from the locals who stick around during the off-season, says Marc MacYoung, a former Los Angeles, Calif., street tough who now makes an honest living lecturing and consulting on personal safety and self-defense.

''They're too conspicuous," says MacYoung, whose street name was "Animal" when he was a gang member in his former life. "In their own areas, they can blend into the scenery and they have bolt holes to hide in. Too far out of their normal range and they stand out like a sore thumb."

Still, while scavengers usually feed close to home, if one does strike, the odds are it will be big. Indeed, if the pros know the area is abandoned, they'll show up dressed like movers or repairmen in a "company" van and clean out an entire house while no one is any the wiser.

Other than turning their beach houses or ski chalets into fortresses, there's little vacation homeowners can do to stop a serious burglar, says MacYoung, who now lives in Castle Rock, Colo. "If someone wants to get in, they will get in," he says.

But you can make your place more difficult to get into than your neighbor's. And often that's all the prevention you need.

''A deterrent doesn't stop crime; that's impossible," says MacYoung, who has worked as a bodyguard, bouncer, cooler and security guard. "It just prevents it from happening to you. Your goal is to make it more trouble for someone to break into your house than the guy's next door."

It goes without saying that you should lock all locks, secure all access to your property through gates and windows, and install -- and use -- an alarm system.

But we're talking well beyond the usual steps most homeowners take when they go on vacation. Stopping the newspaper, putting your mail on hold, and asking the neighbors to keep an eye on your place only goes so far when you are gone for the next two or three weeks.

Apart from those obvious precautions, a number of steps can burglarproof your vacation property when you won't return for six or seven months at a time.

For starters, consider hiring a caretaker to occupy your place while you are away, or join up with other owners in your community to pay someone to watch over all your houses. And be sure to give year-round neighbors your home phone number and alert them if you are having work done on your place.

That way, if some official-looking "plumber" does show up, the neighbors can call you and, if necessary, contact the local authorities.

One of the first things that you should do to secure your property is to make it look lived in. That may sound simple enough, but it's not so easy, especially if your home is in a beach or ski town that shuts down during the off-season and only a few residences are occupied year-round.

Start by putting several of your interior lamps on timers. Use the kind that can be programmed to go on and off at various times, and equip lamps in two or three rooms so they are lit at different times.

To avoid disruptions to your well-planned timing mechanisms caused by power outages, opt for sunlight-activated timers. And you probably should put in new bulbs before you leave. That way, you won't be relying on older, used bulbs that are more likely to blow.

Another tip: Leave the light above the range on at all times. "The kitchen is one room that tends to have lights on the most," MacYoung points out at his website, www.nononsenseselfdefense.com.

You also may want to "seriously secure" all entry doors but one. If you use something like a foot lock to jam two of your three doors, you've cut down the chances that someone can get in by two-thirds.

Outside, make sure that exterior lights are on motion sensors or even timers, and that they are mounted high enough so they can't be reached without a ladder. A thief won't throw up a ladder because it is too conspicuous.

You also might want to consider putting your TV set on a timer so it goes on and off in the afternoon and again in the evening. But even if you decide against that, it is a good idea to at least leave a radio on -- to a talk station as opposed to music. The broken pattern of human speech is more consistent with someone being home.

Turn down your phone so a long series of unanswered rings doesn't alert someone to the fact that you're not there. Or better yet, keep the answering machine on, with a message that says "we can't get to the phone right now" rather than you are not home. And check the machine occasionally so it doesn't become full.

Should you close the drapes? Some say closing them is a sure sign that no one's home, but others argue that open drapes allow someone to peer inside. So how about a compromise? Leave the first-floor drapes closed, but open those on the second floor.

If some of your neighbors are year-round residents, tell them you are heading home, and ask them to check on your place occasionally so they can pick up packages, door tags, phone books and whatever else that might be left at the door to indicate that you are not home. And be sure that someone watching the place can contact you.

Also: Alert the company that monitors your alarm system, the security service if your community has one, and the local constabulary that you're gone and your place is supposed to be empty. If the community is small enough, the sheriff is usually willing to detail a squad car to drive by occasionally, says Karpinski, the vacation-home-rental writer.

Lew Sichelman has been covering real estate for more than 30 years. He is a regular contributor to numerous shelter magazines and housing and housing-finance-industry publications.