Happy F'in New Year

[wilheldp_PE]

So, I went over to my parent's house on New Years day for our traditional Christmas dinner (since we spent Christmas with relatives that do not eat our traditional meal). Then I watched some football and went shopping/exchanging with my mom. When I came home that afternoon, I found that my house had been broken into. They took my laptop (hence the no posting for the last few days), a couple of cameras, and my Playstation 2. They must be the dumbest criminals ever, though, because they left a lot of high-dollar stuff that was right next to the stuff they took (like a DSLR camera next to the laptop bag, the Wii next to the Playstation 2, Blu-Ray player, LCD TV, etc). Thank goodness my guns were locked up in my safe because they went through a couple of my empty shotgun cases. I think they may have taken some pain medication too, but I'm not sure what I had (I know they went through my medicine tub though).

What a shitty way to start the new year.

 

[chaosiscash]

Man, that sucks. Sounds like kids, given that they left a lot of the good stuff. A buddy of mine got broken into a couple months back and all that was stolen was the PS3 and a couple of games.

Hope they catch them, but they probably won't.

 

[Dark Knight]

Is that your new place?

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I'm fairly certain they won't catch the idiots. Luckily, I have the serial numbers off of my laptop and cameras, so if they try to pawn them, I'll get'em that way.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Is that your new place?

Nope...I close in about 3 weeks. That can't come quick enough now.

 

[chaosiscash]

Are you going with an alarm system at the new house? IMHO, its pretty cheap peace of mind. My wife and I travel so much, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out when we aren't there. We use ADT, and like it a lot.

 

[Road Guy]

oh man that sucks, hope you retrieve some of it eventually..

I got broken into once when I lived in valdosta, GA and I was doing my "2-week" national guard training, they took everything, even a damn bed...

 

[Fluvial]

Sorry to hear that wil. Glad it wasn't worse though.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I'd go ape if my laptop got swiped. Everything of any value is encrypted but it would still worry me that somebody had the damn thing.

Our alarm system weighs 60lbs and has teeth. The other thing we have going for us here is the village tank farm is at the end of our street which means the local police make frequent trips down our street to get gas.

 

[roadwreck]

That sucks. Beyond the aggravation of having your stuff taken is the state of disarray everything else is left in. What they don't take is usually thrown around all over the place.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

They didn't throw stuff around, but they did rifle through all of my drawers and closets. It just pisses me off to know that somebody was all up in my stuff. When I got home and realized what had happened, I got my loaded Glock out of the safe and made sure the assholes weren't still in the house. They are lucky they weren't.

I'm not sure about the alarm system in the new house. The fatal flaw in those is that you have to remember to set them, and you end up setting them off a million times yourself for every one time a burgler does. I'm probably going to be getting a dog soon after I move, so maybe I'll take the Flyer approach to home protection.

The really lucky and unlucky part, at the same time, is that they got in through an unlocked door, so there was no property damage. I'm assuming that an inspector, appraiser, or realtor left my sliding glass door unlocked at some point during the selling process, and I never thought to check it. I just hope the buyer doesn't find out about this before closing. I would be super pissed if this caused the deal to fall through.

 

[roadwreck]

They didn't throw stuff around, but they did rifle through all of my drawers and closets. It just pisses me off to know that somebody was all up in my stuff.

My Sister-in-law got robbed a few years ago. She lived in an apartment and several units got broken into the same day. They made a hell of a mess and went through everything. They pretty much ripped everything out of every drawer and cabinet in her place. The cost of the items they broke was more than the items they stole.

I'm not sure about the alarm system in the new house. The fatal flaw in those is that you have to remember to set them, and you end up setting them off a million times yourself for every one time a burgler does. I'm probably going to be getting a dog soon after I move, so maybe I'll take the Flyer approach to home protection.

We have a security system. They really aren't that hard to remember to turn on and off in my opinion. My wife has set it off a couple of times though. I grew up with a security system so I'm used to it. Even if you do set it off yourself it isn't a big deal, it's just a lot of noise and a call from the monitoring company. It makes me a whole lot happier when I'm not around though.

The really lucky and unlucky part, at the same time, is that they got in through an unlocked door, so there was no property damage. I'm assuming that an inspector, appraiser, or realtor left my sliding glass door unlocked at some point during the selling process, and I never thought to check it. I just hope the buyer doesn't find out about this before closing. I would be super pissed if this caused the deal to fall through.

Sure it wasn't an "inside job". When my sister-in-law's place was broken into we are 99% sure it was someone that had ties to the maintenance staff at the apartment complex. The units that were broken into were all on the ground floor, maintenance had been through all those units just a day before doing some maintenance on the A/C units and had "forgotten" to re-lock the patio door in each unit. With a pending sale you may not want to go asking the realtors that have been through the house though. If they get word of it they would surely tell their client right?

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Sure it wasn't an "inside job". When my sister-in-law's place was broken into we are 99% sure it was someone that had ties to the maintenance staff at the apartment complex. The units that were broken into were all on the ground floor, maintenance had been through all those units just a day before doing some maintenance on the A/C units and had "forgotten" to re-lock the patio door in each unit. With a pending sale you may not want to go asking the realtors that have been through the house though. If they get word of it they would surely tell their client right?

My 2nd call (after 911) went to my realtor to check the entry statistics on the Supra lock box on my front door. She did find one erroneous entry, but it turned out to be a realtor looking at one of her other properties (apparently the statistics for all of my realtor's lock boxes goes into the same report). I think it was just an inspector or appraiser that took a look out back and forgot to re-lock the door.

I'm waiting to hear back from my insurance agent. I'm going to ask him if this will adversely affect my new policy if I file a claim right now. If it will, I may just eat the losses and buy myself a new laptop. Otherwise, I'm getting money to cover everything I lost.

 

[benbo]

Althouugh these sound like knucklehead kids, was there anything lying around in the house they could use to steal your identity? To me, this would be much more of a pain than the loss of a few items. Depending, of course, on how much those items were worth.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I'm waiting to hear back from my insurance agent. I'm going to ask him if this will adversely affect my new policy if I file a claim right now. If it will, I may just eat the losses and buy myself a new laptop. Otherwise, I'm getting money to cover everything I lost.

Good point. The way they are cancelling left and right, it may be wise to not file a claim. Of course, you've already called and asked, so it will be logged into the database (as per my mom, the retired adjuster) and effect stuff whether or not you make a claim.

 

[Santiagj]

Dogs are great and depending on the breed can be a great deterent. Having a dog for protection is a little tricky though. Out of the guard breeds most of them can be categorized as a guarder of territory or people. I chose to stay clear of the territorial breeds. I think its too risky in a densly poplulated areas. I am afraid of someone getting bitten unitentionally, like a kid going after a ball that went over the fence. This might be what you need though. A couple that I can think of are Cane Corsos and Boerboels.

I have a bullmastiff. He can be categorized as a guarder of people. I am completely confident that he would not bite someone who unintentionally wandered into my yard. He only gets riled up when someone he knows is put in an uncomfortable situation. Him pissed off = not good for you. He is more protective of my wife then he is of me. Once people see him through the window they generally stay clear of my house. Which is a shame cause he loves people and is the definition of a gentle giant. But I like knowing that when I am out on storm duty and my wife is home alone that he is there with her.

Heres my boy at 10 months.

 

[Chucktown PE]

Sorry to hear that wilheld. Was the laptop password protected? I guess they can reformat the computer and get around that but I've heard of people getting caught when they try to activate the license on the computer. The IP address can be traced to a physical address.

 

[Flyer_PE]

Ours is a Collie. He's totally harmless but loud as hell. It doesn't take much to get Mr. Burglar to move to easier pickin's. As far as a security system goes, I've always been tempted to just get the ADT signs and put them on the front walk. Same logic, make him go somewhere down the street.

 

[Dexman1349]

Agreed on the dog. My wife and I are looking at getting one as our "security system." The one thing we have to keep in mind is that we have 2 small kids (both under 5) and we have alot of other small kids and other dogs in the neighborhood. Hence, we have narrowed it down to either a white German Shepherd or a Boxer (my brother breeds them). Both are great with kids, and are highly protective if anyone is threatened, but won't attack if they are un-provoked.

We had our Pubic Storage unit broken into several years ago. They cut the lock and just grabbed the first 4-5 boxes inside the door. Luckily most of the stuff they got was baby clothes and some of my die-cast NASCAR cars, as well as some of my tools. It wasn't so much the stuff they took (it was in storage so it wasn't really used much), but the fact that someone was in my stuff. The only thing that was of any value was a little jump-suit for my son which my mom had made for me when I was an infant, but insurance only saw that as worth the $5 of fabric it was made with.

The one thing we had to deal with on the insurance (even storage units are covered under home owner's), was that they only paid 60% of the "replacement value" up front and then would re-imberse for the remainder once you for the rest once you submitted receipts. Unfortunately "replacement value" was calculated based on what it would take to purchase the same item in the SAME condition. We used the money to replace my collectibles (because they don't depreciate) and just pocketed the rest of the money because it was more money than what we would have gotten selling the baby clothes at a yard sale.

As far as a security system goes, I've always been tempted to just get the ADT signs and put them on the front walk. Same logic, make him go somewhere down the street.

This is quite common, but effective. There's no way to prove the signs are fake unless you actually break in.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

The only thing they took that could have personal data on it is my laptop, but all the websites in my history are password protected (bank acct, etc.). I don't think I had any sensitive file stored on it. I checked with Apple, and there is no way to trace the computer unless it had some sort of LoJack software on it. I may invest in that when I get a new computer.

My insurance agent was no help since the company won't let him answer detailed claims questions. I have one claim on my homeowners for a new roof last year, so I currently only have 1 "point" on my policy. He did tell me that theft claims, especially around the holidays, count more because they are hard to prove what happened and there is a lot of perceived fraud. I think I am going to roll the dice though. I will probably get a little benefit from the fact that I'm moving to a much safer zip code in the near future.

As for the dog, I'm probably going to get a chocolate lab. It'll probably be more likely to give a burgler a sloppy kiss than bite his ass off, but the path of least resistance argument is what I'm going for.