How to stop houses getting trashed pre move in.

[Dean Letfus]

Interested in any advice opinions on any strategies to stop houses getting vandalized post rehab and pre move in.
Seems to be a developing trend here in Memphis in good areas houses are being stripped of copper etc. We had 2 in a week where they took water heaters, left the water on and we have huge damage (and huge repair bills).
How do you slow the thieves down?

[Chris Clothier]

Dean -

A few things that we try to do to prevent these kinds of things from happening. Basic generic things, but they are deterrants and taken as a whole absolutely reduce the incidence of vandalism. We do these things in both Memphis and Dallas

1. Security glass door front and back on every property. (If water closet is outside, it needs a solid door with deadbolt, in my opinion).

2. Security sign in every front yard.

3. Never leave trash in front of house at curb - for anything. This invites thieves to steal new "things" you have put in the house.

4. Cut back bushes from around windows and doors and cut trees up above gutter line unless they are a possible source of future plumbing problems in which case remove. This is so that a burglar has no cover as they try and review a house to vandalize.

5. Put a sign on a caged ac unit warning of threat of electrocution if they tamper with wires.

6. Simple pad lock on gates for access to back yard.

7. Lastly, try to have as much traffic as possible. Either rental agents or renovation crews or even your vendors just stop by houses if they are working close by. A lot of traffic generally keeps people away from houses.

This happened to me on one of my personal properties a couple of years ago and was the only time I had an insurance claim because the water damage was so bad.