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A friend who is usually vigilant was not walking her dogs as far as usual for a few days, concentrating instead on the inside of his home and his yard. When he walked his dogs further a few days later he noticed all the new items on neighbors' porches....a few antique rockers, a couple of 50s porch slider "sofas", a couple of tables, a couple of sculptures, a few large light fixtures. As he carried on conversations with those neighbors they pointed to the new items they had just bought. Every one said their yard man had found them in various old abandoned properties in the countryside or that he owned them and just needed some extra cash.
As you can imagine, as my friend walked further and waved to more neighbors and began to hold the usual long conversations, he discovered other people who were missing items from their homes and porches... rockers, sliders, table and sculptures.
Funny thing is the neighbors were busy or had just habitually walked or driven by in their usual routines and had not thought to look at nearby porches for their missing items.
My friend told everyone about everyone else but doesn't know how they worked it out. He did see several items gone from their "new" homes and back where they had been.
I would be concerned about house strippers casing the house during the day, then coming back later to gut the place. It's incredibly easy to break into just about any house, if you are determined to do so. One guys neighbor did that recently! The guy was deployed for a few months, and the neighbor just kicked in the door and helped himself!
Not quite the same thing as what the basis of this thread is about, but people just shouldn't wander around another's house without express permission. Law or no law.
Looking at the house from the street should be good enough, to decide if you should call your Realtor to look deeper.
My broker listed a foreclosure that had a nice stainless steel french door refrigerator with ice and water on the door.
He met the neighbor next door and gave him his card and said please let him know if you see anything strange.
Two days later my broker goes back, snd the refrigerator is gone. He asks the neighbor if they saw anything, and he says, "yeah, a red pickup truck showed up yesterday during the day, and two guys loaded it up. I said hrllo, and they said hi, and we're very nice." Neighbor assumed since they were doing it out in the open, everything was fine.
Another listing he had, 2 people stole the ac units. Also in broad dsylight. Neighbors thought they were having them replaced.
A common way that people break into houses is to go during the day, ring bell to see if anyone is home, and if no answer, they go around back and break in.
For those of you that think it's ok to walk around a house and peer in windows, how does that look different than what those thrives are doing?
A for sale sign with a phone number is an invitation call the agent or your agent and set up an appt to look at a house. Agents should follow listing instructions. If a house says by appr, or call LA for appt, you don't get to go ring the bell, or go peer into Windows or go look out back. If you can't see what you want from the street, Google map it with earth view, and call la.
That is exactly what I think our neighbors would think. And exactly why I would not count on "knowing the neighbors" as a substitute for having antitheft systems in place. You just can't expect anybody else to guard your home as well as you would yourself. Especially in a region that is so afraid of being direct about something that they avoid any interaction if it MIGHT be bad news. Never mind calling the cops!
When you list your house and agree to having a lockbox, only provide the handset key-- and not a deadbolt key. Lock the deadbolt while you are home to prevent unauthorized access. Don't lock the deadbolt when you are expecting a legitimate showing.
Many posters on this thread made reference to looking into windows of houses that were clearly vacant. How did you know that they were "clearly vacant"?
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No curtains, high grass... no furniture -sometimes you can see clear through an uncurtained house from the street. Sometimes the realtor tells you it is OK to stop by and peek. Sometimes the HUD real estate sign, and the notices taped to the door make it clear.
But, as far as the OP being uncomfortable about people trespassing when someones house that is only 20 feet away from theirs... I wouldn't be looking for a house on a postage-stamp lot, so it wouldn't be me doing the trespassing. And, I do believe that people who put their property up for sale should have an expectation of a certain loss of privacy during the process, and take steps to deal with it.
When you list your house and agree to having a lockbox, only provide the handset key-- and not a deadbolt key. Lock the deadbolt while you are home to prevent unauthorized access. Don't lock the deadbolt when you are expecting a legitimate showing.
Good idea, but ours have always used the same key.
When checking a house for sale, even knowing it was vacant, I've never felt like it was ok to come into the property. I do drive there and look from the curb, but going to the back yard, looking into windows? That's going too far.
When you list your house and agree to having a lockbox, only provide the handset key-- and not a deadbolt key. Lock the deadbolt while you are home to prevent unauthorized access. Don't lock the deadbolt when you are expecting a legitimate showing.
When my house was on the market, I kept the storm door locked when I was home. More than once it kept impromptu showings from happening while I was in the house and not expecting anyone -- once when I was in the shower, even.
My agent told me to walk around some properties,but i do not feel comfortable doing that.
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