This is about vacant house safety because of a situation that I had to deal with over the last several days. Obviously, this person was quite tenacious.
With all of the homes on the market, many are vacant and we need to be more aware of our surroundings than ever before and CAREFUL! Even looking back, I did something quite stupid myself. OK, so a little history and a short story - Imagine that!
I have a couple of Central Florida rental properties that are not presently occupied. One of them I hadn't been to in a couple of weeks. I knew that I needed to put new flyers in it as I've lowered the price and changed offices. So, I drove over to this house to put the flyers in the InfoTube and noted that my sign was missing. It's been previously taken (see how I didn't say ‘stolen' - oops, there I did) so I really didn't think anything of it except to be somewhat perturbed.
So the following day, this past Sunday, I went to the store and bought another ‘For Rent' sign and drove over to my house to place it in the yard. To my astonishment, the sign was next to the mail box. I had to wonder, but only for a moment, if I had missed it. I was ready to drive off when I decided that I needed to check the home out. As I entered the garage, there was something on the floor that I would not have left there and as I got out of my car, I noted that the lid to the washing machine was up, which it shouldn't have been.
What really floored me was that when I looked inside the machine, there were clothes in the tub. Needless to say I didn't think anything of it and entered the house, obviously knowing that someone has been there, even though at this point I was also questioning my sanity and stability. Yeah, go there, I can understand!
I walked in the house and several things were amiss in that many doors were closed that should not have been; the porch light was turned off; there was an empty soda can on the floor in one room and a rod was there as well. Even though this isn't my personal residence, I still felt violated (no need to go there, please!). After going through the house I'd noted that several doors and windows were unlocked, which was not the previous case. I'm usually careful with my homes. I also noted where I think the squatter came in.
The reason that I'm calling this person a squatter is because they did not do any damage to my house except for some dirt. So, I secured the home and called the police department to let them know what had occurred. The woman on the other side of the phone was silent for a while until she finally asked if I'd like them to patrol the area more often. Now, it has to be noted that this is a nice neighborhood and rarely has any issues.So, Monday I go back to the house and note as I'm driving up to the garage that a blind appears to be more closed than I would normally keep it and as I enter the garage, I note that today there is a shirt lying across the washing machine. So, I immediately call the police.
Three squad cars show up and they go through the house with their guns drawn and come back with an empty pack of cigarettes. Not my brand. They were very nice and we all went through the home looking for ways of entry and a couple of windows were unlocked again including the one I thought they were coming through because I'd found footprints on the kitchen counter. I was wondering to myself about the security of this window the previous day, but checked it several times before I left.
So I went through the house and secured it again, checking it several times. Besides, I wanted to clean it up and vacuum because I was showing it on New Year's Day.
Well, I guess they weren't happy that I secured the home, so on New Year's Day when I went over they removed a window from the exterior door to the garage and I must have forgotten to lock the interior door. Again, I called the police and went through the whole scenario again. But dealing with the police is another story in itself.
Well, I went over there today and don't think that they got in after covering the window with some hard particle board.
The whole point here is we ‘assume' that when a house is vacant, that is the case. But we don't really know this at all. The fact is, not only in this case, but we do not have the right to assume anything.
More and more homes that we see on the market are vacant. I did a google search before writing this and couldn't believe how many articles popped up on this topic and I'm only talking about the last couple of months. This is obviously not an isolated incident and the tenacity of this person is mind boggling to a degree.
Some of the things that I've read tell us that if a home is vacant to cancel all of the services and keep up with the lawn. But this really isn't feasible if you are trying to sell or rent a home. One also mentioned to leave lights on, but shut the blinds. I usually leave them open so you can see if anything is going on inside, but I guess that the other hand is they feel that the possible intruder won't be able to see inside.
But, finally, one law enforcement agency wrote that if they've been vacant long enough, people will just kind of make themselves at home and squatters will come in. Now, I have to tell you that on one level I felt sorry for this person, because it appears that they just may needed a place to sleep. I really couldn't consider what they did as vandalism except for a broken screen and missing window. But the other hand is what they did was wrong and a violation.
Please just be careful and be safe. Many of us have vacant properties, whether they be our own or that of clients. We need to be diligent in our care of such. We need to make sure that we check them fairly often. This is not meant to frighten you but to heighten your awareness of yourself and your surroundings.
For more information on Central Florida real estate and Central Florida homes for sale in addition to Central Florida relocation contact Marc Grossman, your Central Florida Realtor @ 407-463-1034. Additional information is available for Seminole County real estate, Orange County real estate, West Volusia County and South Lake County.
Marc Grossman, GRI - http://www.OrlandoHomes-4u.com/ - 407-463-1034
Marc donates 10% of his net proceeds to Hospice of the Comforter.
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