Things that can make your home a target for burglars

I thought this link might be useful to people, its ways you can minimise the chances of your house being broke into

[lizardlady]

I can't get the link to work.

My ways of protecting myself/ my property are a) live way off the road in the boonies. Bad guys are too lazy to come all the way out here and b) live with a big bada$$ dog. Beeg is a good boy most of the time, but if he senses I am in danger he turns into 75 pounds of "I'm going to eat your liver."

Am i allowed to copy the list across? Not sure

[lizardlady]

Ghosts in the machine.... the link worked this time.

[rechu]

Helmut is a scaredy dog, but I do think that Bruni would step up if something happened. We live in a gated community surrounded mainly by vineyards and farms. There's a small agricultural business behind the house but we have a tall wall with razor wire, typical Latin American security measures. Due to the rising crime rate the administration is putting in a higher gate. We also have street cameras, so we are pretty well protected. There area a few nearby communities around here with no security, so I think they would be more attractive targets.


Where I used to live, I was very concerned. We lived in this area with a lot of dead end streets off the main avenue. Most had gates with an intercom. We had a gate, but few people closed it. A few times, I would close/lock it and five minutes later it was open again. The open gate was an invitation for all sorts of weirdos, unfortunately. Once a burglar or burglars cleaned out the house down the street in broad daylight. They must have brought a truck considering everything that was stolen. Even after that, our neighbors would keep the gate open. I had more than a few encounters with freaks that were walking around knocking on doors/gates. One guy told me that he was from the health service and needed to inspect my house. Obviously, I did not let him in! Here people try to use excuses to come into peoples' houses to scope them out and see what there is to steal.

[Mountaindewed]

Some neighbor of mine said someone broke into her house and went upstairs. But she doesn't have an upstairs... My mom says she is just senile. She walks around outside in the middle of the night with a flaslight because she thinks people are stealing her rocks.

I live in the nice part of town so I don't have to worry much. When I get my dog in the summer I will feel much much better though.

The list from the link, in case anyone's having trouble with it

1) Leaving your spare key in a obvious place
2) Your letterbox overflowing - shows you are away from home
3) Posting holiday photos on social media
4) Patio doors are a weak spot on the house
5) Leaving the window open
6) Leaving keys beside a door or window - easy for theifs to grab
7) Leaving the radio on all the time
8) Leaving expensive/valuable items near a window
9) Leaving the light on all day and all night
10) Your lawn being overgrown
11) The glass in your front door is a weak point
12) Having a air conditioning unit by a window
13) Orbituary in the paper shows a theif which house is likely to be empty
14) Leaving a ladder where a theif could easily get it, will encourage them to use it to get into a upstairs window
15) Running a business from home cause the theifs will think money and stuff worth stealing are kept on the premises
16) Pet doors for your dog to come in and out - big enough for a theif to fit through
17) Not locking your front door every time you are not at home
18) If snow is on the ground, lack of footmarks going to and from the door
19) Garden furniture can be used to help them get into your house
20) Flowers dying off in pots outside
21) Not having any fences up
22) Curtains being closed for a long time
23) Leaving the garage controls in the car
24) Not locking the garage door
25) Leaving empty boxes outside, particularly boxes that electrical goods came in
26) Overgrown bushes can be a hiding place for theifs
27) Letting strangers in without checking they are who they claim to be
28) Lack of neighbours

[rechu]

My ex's mother had to go stay with his sister after an emotional breakdown due to her divorce. He was mainly in charge of taking care of her house, even though we lived an hour away and his irresponsible brother lived five minutes away. He would always make sure the plants were watered/kept neat and removed any mail or promotional flyers to ensure the house did not appear unoccupied.

He discovered that people would put things like a glass beer bottle in front of the house, I guess to test to see if someone noticed it, and removed it. He always got rid of those and also asked the neighbors to help out if someone noticed it.

Here, there is also a problem with potential thieves or burglars scoping out neighborhoods and putting spray paint marks on the sidewalk or front fence/gate. They are some sort of code, to indicate things such as that the household is on vacation, elderly people (seen as easier to rob) live there, the household has a dog, or a police officer lives there, etc. We have a regular police service and the investigative police (like the FBI) and they both have more leeway to use their guns than an average citizen, so criminals like to avoid those houses.

[Crazy Hitch]

I am guilty of leaving the spare key in an obvious place …..

[*Beth*]

I'm glad I live in an upstairs apartment and have a load of neighbors. If my gaff was on the ground floor I'd be a nervous wreck.

[Mendingmysoul]

Good list.