New Home in STV - 1st Couple of Months Vacant (insurance, new house)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by observer53

To me, the potential for vandalism, if not outright burglary (including copper theft) is huge. If you have to get real window treatments, get them. Yes, enlist the neighbors and the salesperson/people to keep an eye out for trouble. Let the neighbors park a car in your driveway and pick up flyers that get put on the door or bagged up in rocks on the driveway. Yes to the lights on timers. All of that will help.

Huge? I guess it depends where the OP lives. I have timers, cameras, a security system, because I am away for months at a time and I am a technology nut. I have the same thing in our MN home that is virtually crime free. But I can list off 10 others in our AZ neighborhood that don't have any of that and use their home for 3 months a year. They have 2 sets of yellowed newspaper in their driveway and a lone porch lamp on 24-7. It's obvious that no one is home.

With that said, crime in our specific neighborhood is extremely low. No vandalism worth mentioning and certainly no copper theft. But then again, I live in one of the safest communities inside on of the safest towns in Arizona (Surprise ranked second-safest city in Arizona ). It's a big reason why I chose to be "way out there"; burglars are lazy and prefer to stay close to their hoods. So if the OP's new home is in Gilbert or in the SW corner of Chandler, they will statistically have much lower crime than being central. Since it is a new home, they may live in the outer burbs.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Huge? I guess it depends where the OP lives. I have timers, cameras, a security system, because I am away for months at a time and I am a technology nut. I have the same thing in our MN home that is virtually crime free. But I can list off 10 others in our AZ neighborhood that don't have any of that and use their home for 3 months a year. They have 2 sets of yellowed newspaper in their driveway and a lone porch lamp on 24-7. It's obvious that no one is home.

With that said, crime in our specific neighborhood is extremely low. No vandalism worth mentioning and certainly no copper theft. But then again, I live in one of the safest communities inside on of the safest towns in Arizona (Surprise ranked second-safest city in Arizona ). It's a big reason why I chose to be "way out there"; burglars are lazy and prefer to stay close to their hoods. So if the OP's new home is in Gilbert or in the SW corner of Chandler, they will statistically have much lower crime than being central. Since it is a new home, they may live in the outer burbs.

As someone that was in the development business, take it from me, you can't trust those trades that are in the new home subdivisions all day. Many are drug addicts and hard up for cash and will think nothing of stealing someones stainless steel appliance package in broad daylight. I know most are not druggies and criminals, but there is that element for sure. I've found many used needles and seen plenty of theft and vandalism as it was happening. I think the OP said they are buying in San Tan Valley. The location doesn't really matter if it's the construction workers you do not trust. And believe me, the thieves among them know what is in each house, and know when people are moved in.

[BlueCat1105]

I've already met a few people from the new neighborhood, who have been checking on the house as it's being built, so I'm sure I can also ask them to pop around to check on it once it's done. It seems to be a very nice area (which is why we bought there!) so I'm not too concerned with rampant vandalism, not that things can't happen when a home is unattended. We will have blinds on all windows before we leave it. I was kind of looking at things like the temp at which to leave the A/C and things of that nature.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by asufan

As someone that was in the development business, take it from me, you can't trust those trades that are in the new home subdivisions all day. Many are drug addicts and hard up for cash and will think nothing of stealing someones stainless steel appliance package in broad daylight. I know most are not druggies and criminals, but there is that element for sure. I've found many used needles and seen plenty of theft and vandalism as it was happening. I think the OP said they are buying in San Tan Valley. The location doesn't really matter if it's the construction workers you do not trust. And believe me, the thieves among them know what is in each house, and know when people are moved in.

You bring up a great point as I was not thinking down that path. The trades can attract some "interesting" people. I'm in a section that was developed back in 2006. The 2014 sections have a lot of contractors working on site 6 days a week.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Huge? I guess it depends where the OP lives.

I'm guessing here a bit, I admit, but there's a big difference between an established neighborhood in Surprise (with a neighborhood watch as you describe) and one in STV that still has a lot of new construction going on and is not so established.

[BlueCat1105]

Again, not really the point of the question. There haven't been any reports of vandalism in the area, and that was not my worry. My worry is a closed up house in the heat of the summer...

[asufan]

Originally Posted by BlueCat1105

Again, not really the point of the question. There haven't been any reports of vandalism in the area, and that was not my worry. My worry is a closed up house in the heat of the summer...

Your OP did not mention you just wanted to know what temp to keep your AC at. You mentioned it would be vacant and what appliances will be in the house and asked if we had any "tips".

[observer53]

I would not set the thermostat as low as 82 or 83 as suggested above, you could go much higher than that without risk.

[BlueCat1105]

Originally Posted by asufan

Your OP did not mention you just wanted to know what temp to keep your AC at. You mentioned it would be vacant and what appliances will be in the house and asked if we had any "tips".

But it DID say this: "I was looking at the other thread about snowbirds closing up their places, and wonder what you would suggest we do in the time between closing and when we can finally relocate. Thanks for any tips you can offer!"

So no, it was not JUST about where to set the A/C, it was more about how you close up a house that had no real contents. I never said anything about worries of burglaries or vandalism. I saw posts on the other topic that seemed very specific to the modular type of snowbird home, where they were even shrinkwrapping their toilets, and thought it might not be the same as a regular stick-built house.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by BlueCat1105

But it DID say this: "I was looking at the other thread about snowbirds closing up their places, and wonder what you would suggest we do in the time between closing and when we can finally relocate. Thanks for any tips you can offer!"

So no, it was not JUST about where to set the A/C, it was more about how you close up a house that had no real contents. I never said anything about worries of burglaries or vandalism. I saw posts on the other topic that seemed very specific to the modular type of snowbird home, where they were even shrinkwrapping their toilets, and thought it might not be the same as a regular stick-built house.

Okay, so you got more information than you were looking for. That does happen around here. It's not a big issue.

Great that you aren't concerned about vandals/theft, I hope that doesn't turn out to be an issue. I'm sure people will chime in with other info, we've had this sort of question before.