It was bound to happen...

[RobJ]

The weekend place got hit about a month ago. They made 3 trips as far as I can tell. I had an IR game cam up in the back. Got a great shot of the front of the car and a perp but it's all whited out because they had the headlights on. Got one atv, bunch of tools, guns. There was a male and female involved. Took cleaning supplies, towels, frozen sausage, fudge sickles and dry food!!! Took all the normal stuff to. Good thing is they didn't find the house keys(double cylinder!!), opened a window to put stuff through then closed the window after. And they did not trash the house. I mainly had to just close cabinet doors. They drove the atv off and we believe they are close. The Sherriff is working some leads. I since added a fence and gate to secure the back from people parking there. Also added some motion lights. I'm thinking about a monitored alarm or just a home alarm with a lound siren. I had insurance, some, but you still always take some loss. The problem is there are so many weekenders around there, and I'm right on the blac top.

What do yall do to secure your place? And also check your coverages!!! I only had $1000 in tools. I might have lost 2-3 thousand. $1000 in guns. We had never changed the coverage since building the garage in 2004, and stuff started to accumulate! The atvs were on a separate policy, not replacement value but market value. I'm still waiting on that decision.

Rob

 

[tallyho8]

I hate thieves!
I hope that you didn't also have any damage from Hurricane Ike or Gustav that you claimed on your homeowner's policy because in our area if you make 2 claims within 3 years they drop your policy and it is impossible to get another one except at exorbitant rates.

 

[hitekcountry]

Took cleaning supplies, towels, ---- And they did not trash the house.

Rob

Call me crazy, but the first thing that flashed in my mind was that the female has a side job or full time job as a cleaning woman, probably cleaning houses for people that rent their "weekend" homes when it's not being used by the owners. These are people that hate to see trashed houses.

These home maintenance workers also have a good sense of which houses have fulltime residents and which ones are part time rentals or weekend homes.

 

[lhfarm]

Really sorry to hear about this. We have had a weekend farm/future retirement home for about 25 years. I run a full home automation system with driveway alerts, security cameras and a couple of forms of instant notification if something out of the ordinary takes place. I get an email every morning with a file attached listing activity from the day before. And I still worry.

I use a program called HomeSeer (Home Automation Systems - HomeSeer), running on a computer that goes 24/7 and has an always on internet connection. I can get to it from any Web browser. I use a wide variety of hardware to control lights, water pump, water heater, and even music. As I said, I've been growing this system for 25 years and I wouldn't expect you to do the same. You can do a lot with bits and pieces though.

The first line of defense is the driveway alert (Driveway Alarm System Driveway Security System Alert Driveway System Remote Driveway Alarm System). My drive is 1400' up a hill and the alarm is buried next to the drive at the first curve. I figure by the time they reach that point, they are committed to coming on up and I still have some time before they reach the house. What happens next depends on if we are around and if it is night time. If we are around, a chime goes off and a voice says a vehicle has been detected. This also sets off the dog alarm. He knows that someone is coming and heads to the door to see who it is. If it is between sunset and sunrise, the outside floods come on.

If we are not there, the system fires an email. It can phone or send a text message too. If it is dark the outside lights come on and so do interior lights. They stay on until another trip of the drive alter (or I turn them off if we are the arriving party). While some might say I'm just providing good lighting for the bums, I figure they will be kept guessing if I'm somewhere waiting with my shotgun . The lights also provide good lighting for my video cameras.

I'm running video software (Blue Iris - Home) that does a great job with motion detection. It uploads videos to the Web so I can what is going on. I'm tempted to look at the newer IP based cameras, but these cameras have worked well for years.

Luckily, it has never been tested with a theft. I have used it in a dsipute with a delivery company whose driver claimed to have tried to make a delivery. My gravel guy has been known to run up to get his truck's picture taken, knowing I'll call him when I see the video. Saves him a long distance call (probably not important in these cell phone times).

My wife loves the driveway alert, especially when she is there alone, so it is as useful when you are there as when you are gone. I think you can but together without doing the going the full home automation route.

If you PM me, I can tell you about some other security features I don't want to broadcast.

 

[RobJ]

I hate thieves!
I hope that you didn't also have any damage from Hurricane Ike or Gustav that you claimed on your homeowner's policy because in our area if you make 2 claims within 3 years they drop your policy and it is impossible to get another one except at exorbitant rates.

Not on this house, but on the other WAY OVERVALUED house(which raises the deductable, 1% of THEIR value...but of course for a named storm, like Ike, the deductable is 2%).

We had some roof damage, I fought that one hard, ended up making a different claim with 1% deductable. sometimes it pays to have the local rep working for you. No cancellation yet, 2 houses, 4 cars, 2, errrr 1 ATV.

 

[RobJ]

Call me crazy, but the first thing that flashed in my mind was that the female has a side job or full time job as a cleaning woman, probably cleaning houses for people that rent their "weekend" homes when it's not being used by the owners. These are people that hate to see trashed houses.

These home maintenance workers also have a good sense of which houses have fulltime residents and which ones are part time rentals or weekend homes.

The deputy said some cleaning supplies can be used to make meth. But in this case they took the whole basket thay most people have under the sinks. Also took utilsels(IN the plastic holder), and the little tray in my junk drawer...screws, nails, scizzors.

Nah we figure this is someone setting up a house or just needing all this stuff. They kept it and are using it!

 

[Kernopelli]

Man, there is nothing worse than a thief. We have been victims 4 times our self, the most recent last year. I don't know what to tell someone about property away from their home. Keep your insurance current and get riders on anything like guns, jewelry etc that have low coverage limits. I can tell you ( I work in corrections and have heard it all)..if someone wants something and has the time/opportunity, potentially nothing is going to stop them; lighting, locks, chains, alarms, safes, window/door bars, rebar in outside walls,etc. are all great deterrents but if your property is not able to be under regular supervision you are at the mercy of just how much effort someone wants to expend. I read one convict's case that regularly used a tow truck w/ O/A torch, chain saws, insulated cable cutters and full assortment of tools. If they couldn't disable, cut, saw, pry or break their way in he would drill then run cable around outside wall studs and pull the structure down around his target. He would only prey on unattended rural property, at least that's what his convictions were on. I have also heard many of them talk about just how easy it is to break in and steal things from the same room where people were sleeping just feet away from them. To them it's a game and some get very good at it. Most are absolute idiots to our benefit though.

At home, I increased my security lighting and wired the new ones w/motion detectors. Put window and door alarms in and lock up the garage/shop every night and don't leave anything outside. We also have an excellent watch dog. We tell everyone that she won't hurt you as long as we're with her but if not, don't try coming to the door. Not exactly 100% true but when they see her they believe it. She IS very territorial and is not shy about approaching anyone on the property. She has chased more than one person back into their car or off the property. She also knows the exact property lines and will not go after anything outside them. She's a real meat head but she pulls her weight.

 

[RobertN]

Sorry to hear about the break in.

In regards to the weapons, I am a firm believer in a good safe. I lock everything that I am not in direct control of. I also have a teenage son. He is very safe with weapons. I am not too worried about his buddies. But, the risk is not there. A rifle and shotgun are his. We get to them as needed/wanted. But, they are locked up unless my wife or I are home and supervising.

I like real safes. We stored weapons in a wood/glass case for a very short time. No security there. Like the safe, not only for weapons but important documents ect.

I have never had guns stolen from home, thank goodness. I did have two pistols get "lost" by UPS in shipping. That was 10 years ago. A couple months ago, I got a call from a Police dept a couple hours away. They had busted a criminal, and he had one of my weapons. At least one is off the street.

$1000 in guns.

 

[teg]

Sorry to hear this... Been meaning to video everything that we have up at our place, just to record what would be lost. We looked into insurance and for the price, I decided that if we don't "hit" after five years... we'll be insuring ourselves and every year we can add another $700 worth of stuff that we can get stolen,

We don't have much up there, a couple grand would replace all of it and with the insurance deductable... it was not worth it.

 

[SPIKER]

I been pretty lucky like you only been hit once that was a car broken into during time I was at a funeral, seems there is / was a crew hitting homes/cars for people who had deaths in family and the obit in paper when times were for calling ect. The crooks would hit the homes of the direct family members of the deceased. My car was parked at the GFs place when we went to her dads funeral. I had $1000 worth of damage & stolen parts, they broke door key/lock with screw driver, took stereo/CD player CDs Radar detector AMP & Subs & some other misc stuff. Insurance was 1K deductible...

I farm property has only cheap stuff mostly and lots of neighbors who I let have somewhat free reign for them watching place. I have not been hit there but the 2 front houses were hit stealing chainsaws ect. both times in daylight, one guy was trimming tree out near my drive (his property) sat Craftsman saw down to get lunch came back and it was gone! other guy had nice Saw taken from his trucks floor board, car drov into his drive while he was at work, walked/foot prints to his door, and then back, stopping at his truck and took his saw & gas can...

Mark