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Updated over 4 years ago,
My biggest fear happened: a break in
Well today it happened folks. Got to the property I am currently rehabbing and found the door kicked in, with all my tools stolen.
This is my first property, and I’ve been rehabbing it by myself for the last few months. I’m less than a week from being done, mostly just finish work, and then I’ll be renting out the other three bedrooms.
It feels like I failed, like my thesis on the quality of this neighborhood is wrong. That’s the most demoralizing part. The “being wrong” part. I’m getting over that. There’s also the potential threat to me and my future tenants safety, even though I wasn’t home when it happened.
That’s where my issue is: I’ve talked to the neighbors (one guy had been there since 1965) and they all say break ins are really rare/never happen. One guy said it looked like my house was an easy target since the blinds were up and you could see tools from the window if you came close and there clearly wasn’t anyone home. So clearly I wasn’t doing everything I could. Definitely feel like an idiot now. Ha. They also didn’t take everything they could though. I had some musical equipment in the bedroom I live in and none of that was touched. It was just hand tools, a Bluetooth speaker, and a handgun. A smash and grab situation really, probably no more than 5minutes tops.
So am I at risk of a repeat situation here? Or is it more like a one and done thing, with somebody trying to make a buck on a late weeknight. Obviously I’ve locked the other expensive stuff up in a shed or moved it to an offsite location. I’ve also reinforced the door with a max guard steel protection thing. I even tried kicking it down and it stayed. So I feel better about that.
If this happens again I’m gonna dump the property in two years to avoid cap gains. If not, I’m gonna hold forever and rent it till the note is gone.
It just sucks. Today was a hard day in my real estate investing journey. Going to buy just half of my tools again so I could keep working was hard. As always tho, Onward and upward.