Christy's House Got Broken Into

As many of you know, my daughter Christy (Dakota's Mommy who almost never posts anymore) and her 3 kids and 3 dogs have been living with us since her husband when to Iraq in Sept. Every few weeks either Carl, her and the kids and just she and the kids go back to Cincinnati (a three hr trip from here) to check on the house. Today she and the kids went down for the rest of the weekend. She always calls to tell us they arrived safely but when she called today, she said, "can I talk to Dad?" which in my house when one of the kids says that first thing means something is wrong.

The guest bedroom which is at the back of the house has a sliding glass door into the back yard. I am not really sure of the reason for this because the yard is not that great and certainly not that big and the door into the yard is just around the corner. Anyway someone had smashed the door and come in. She had already called the police and her real estate agent (the house was supposed to be shown today). In looking around the only thing she found missing was Brian's stereo.

When the police came they said a gang of kids in the neighborhood have been breaking and entering houses that look vacated. They did it mostly to have a place to hang out. But sometimes they trashed the inside. Thankfully they did not do that. She had left the information about her house insurance here so she was not able to contact her agent (Carl took the information to her when he went down a little while ago.) She had called a friend of Brians who is still recruiting down there and he came over. She told the police that Brian was in Iraq and she had no idea what to do about it. They called home depot and got them to cut a piece of plywood big enough to cover it. She had driven the truck so Matt was going to go get it. They were only going to spend the night but of course, she couldn't stay there alone so Carl went down.

She is very lucky that more wasn't taken or more damage wasn't done. The police said they thought it have happend in the last few days because there was no moisture damage (Cincy has been having rain and snow the last week). Of course, she feels very violated and I doubt if she ever goes back down alone again. I know real estate is not moving very well right now but I have thought for a long time that she needed to change companies. I just wish it would sell and we wouldn't have to worry about it all the time.

Oh another thing they had put a 3 foot chain link fence around the yard for the dogs when they moved in in 2005. She had the gates locked so whoever broke in had to jump the fence. Her back yard is not that big and is on the corner so to be honest I don't know how the neighbors hadn't seen the damage to the doors.

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Originally Posted by 4 Dog Mother

When the police came they said a gang of kids in the neighborhood
have been breaking and entering houses that look vacated.
They did it mostly to have a place to hang out.

I don't know how the neighbors hadn't seen the damage to the doors.

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:eek:
:mad:

Poor Christy & Brian! :(

Have Christy ask Brian's Buddy if there isn't a Soldier, possibly with a Family,
stationed in Cincy that would like to *RENT* the house (possibly for free other
than utilities) just to have it "occupied" to avoid the vandalism.

ANY house sitting vacant for any length of time is a target for break-ins and vandalism ---
it really needs to have a live-in house sitter.

As for permanent repairs - the Realtor should have a repair/remodeling company
on reatainer for these situations. Or have Carl drop in at the neighborhood Fire Station -
theres almost always a Firefighter who moonlights as a remodeler on off days.
Or the Firefighters "know a guy ..."

Glad it wasn't a lot more serious!

{{{Hugs}}} to Christy!

How rude!! :mad: :(

I'm glad more damage wasn't done. Hopefully the house sells soon. *HUGS*

Sending prayers her way.

That's a real shame. Perhaps she can see about getting someone to housesit for her so that the house doesn't sit vacant. Otherwise, it's liable to happen again. We'll be praying that all is secure and that the house sells....

:mad: Idiots! Hopefully the cops will catch the kids that are doing this.
I understand what a hassle it is to have an empty house miles away - prayers that it sells soon so she doesn't have to worry about it. Maybe Christy can look into having a different realtor if she's not satisfied?

that totally SUCKS!
I'm glad they lost only a limited amount and didn't get the house trashed!

I don't know that I would feel comfortable staying there either if I were her. I'd feel very vulnerable in that situation.

It seems that the kids in our neighborhood notice the vacant houses first. The house right next to me keeps getting hit with various gang graffiti. First one, then another... They moved out in December, and have been doing renovations, but since it now has the look of an unlived in house. Not good.

Hope someone will house sit for them, or as Phred suggested, asking if a soldier would want to stay there with his family till it can be sold. That is a great idea.

I am so sorry that this has happened. Do the neighbors know how to get in contact with her at your place?

Oh no! That is horrible. :(

Our 90 year old neighbor had left her house a couple weeks ago around 11:30am. She returned around 12:30 1:00 to find that someone had broke in and stole her cell phone and some of her late husbands belongings. This happened within less than two hours and in the middle of the day! So someone was watching and knew when she left. The other freaky part is that Bruce was home when it happened!! :eek:

She has now installed an alarm system.

I hope they can get that house sold quickly.

What a lousy thing to have happened. :( I do hope she can get someone
to live there till it can be sold. Maybe an alarm system would be some help
too. It could also be a selling point plus.

That stinks.

Is the house in FP? If so, I have some clients in desparate need of housing right now- and I do mean desparate. While they couldn't afford to pay much more than utilities, at least the house would be occupied. It is a young couple with a toddler...if you are interested.

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Originally Posted by Cataholic

Is the house in XX?

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OK, I give up ... :confused:

What does "XX" stand for? ... Ya "talk" like a Doctor!

Correction: ... "talk" like a seekrit agent!

:p

Phred,

FP is the Cincinnati suburb.

Yes, that is where it is. I'll make sure Christy and my mom know about this.

Please tell Christi I'm very sorry to hear about this.

I do know how hard it is to sell a house now days (Mark just sold his mom's for much less than they wanted just so it wouldn't be sitting empty)

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Originally Posted by Cincy'sMom

XX is the Cincinnati suburb.

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They call a 'burb "XX" ???
:confused:

How 'bout it's called ... ?XX?

This is like pullin MY teeth!
:rolleyes:

Hope it wasn't supposed to be a *seekrit*!! :eek:
OMG! It WAS a seekrit! :o
"Hints" have been edited out.

I didn't know if since it already had broken into once, it was the best idea to say where an empty house was sitting. Maybe being too careful. Sorry.

That sucks. How desrespectful. At least it was only a stereo, but still..that doesn't ease the pain of feeling violated. My "ex-house" was robbed 3x. All the elder neighbors sat and looked out the window all day and knew everyone's businees, except when the cops asked questions about the robbery. Praying that everything works out for Christy.

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Originally Posted by Cincy'sMom

I didn't know if since it already had broken into once, it was the best idea to say where an empty house was sitting. Maybe being too careful. Sorry.

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i was thinking the same thing-
never can be too careful -
surprised Phred didn't think of it!

Quote:

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I didn't know if ... it was the best idea to say where an empty house was sitting.

... never can be too careful - surprised Phred didn't think of it!

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He DID think of it ...

And *thought* it would be pretty hard to target a house knowing ONLY the subdivision name.

I'll go back and remove some more.

How horrible!! :eek:
I hope they find the kids that did it!

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Originally Posted by K9karen

My "ex-house" was robbed 3x. All the elder neighbors sat and looked out the window all day and knew everyone's businees, except when the cops asked questions about the robbery. .

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I think I can top that one, Karen. In Massachusetts, I lived in a converted house, with 8 units, I think. Right on a corner of two streets, across the street from a little carryout place. I was completely cleaned out- in broad day light, between the hours of 9-1130am. No one saw a thing. Not even the couple moving in across the street. :rolleyes:

I didn't see how the kids could have broken it at night and the neighbors not have known since the back of their house is so close to Christy's. But the police officer that came said he thinks they broke in during the day BECAUSE almost all the neighbors work. It was one of those coincidental things but the officer graduated from Findlay High School in 1987. He said they would put Christy's house on daily checks.

I've been trying to think of some way we could help sell the house. I thought about a human interest story of this being Brian's second tour in Iraq and Christy needing to be near family. Even when he gets back next winter if the house hasn't sold, it is going to make things difficult for the Christy and the kids to join him as they won't be able to afford two housing payments.
It seems with all these reality shows where they build people whole huge new houses that we should be able to create some sympathy and get someone to buy it.

I know that someone said that a car was included with the sale of a house but again, we can't afford a car to go along with the house. I guess I think that our government expects a lot of these men and their families that in situations like this they should be buying the houses or something to make it easier on the families. Of course, I could get into the advisibility of these men buying a house in the first place but that would be talking about something I cannot change at this point in time.

Johanna, the problem with renting to anyone while it is for sale is that right now it is hard enough to sell a house. Having people in there and maybe not takng care of it, may make it even harder to sell. Plus of course, the house would have to be available at all times to be shown which may disrupt the renters lives.

It seems that since Rob died we have had so many of these type of problems that life sometimes seems overwhelming. I don't think it is always the big problems (although this one is not exactly small) that get us, it's all the little ones that keep cropping up.

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Originally Posted by 4 Dog Mother

Johanna, the problem with renting to anyone while it is for sale is that right now it is hard enough to sell a house. Having people in there and maybe not takng care of it, may make it even harder to sell. Plus of course, the house would have to be available at all times to be shown which may disrupt the renters lives.

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I totally understand. My thoughts were really about the safety issue with a vacant house, not really the sales aspect. Is it priced right? Can it be lowered? How long has it been on the market?

Of course, the market could not be worse right now. Just thinking...

That's just awful! Even if not much got stolen or was destroyed, it's quite disturbing to know that your private space has been invaded. :(

Kirsten

I was renting the 2nd floor of a house when I lived in Bethlehem. The house was up for sale while I lived there, and while it was a pain to have them work around my hours, it wasn't too bad. I just didn't like when the one woman came in with her little girl and they were opening up my cupboards and my dressers. I did say that the furniture wasn't included, that it was personal property of mine, so they really had no right to look in it. The cupboards I couldn't do much about.

One thing if you do rent it out, if you have a lease, the renters are guaranteed their living arrangements until the lease is up. So, if they have a lease for 1 year, and it sells after 3 months, legally you can't make them move for 9 more months. I was lucky when I lived there because the new owner just wanted it for 2ndary income and kept it as apartments.