Tonight I was watching the news here in Austin, TX and one of the problems that new home builders here in Central Texas, and I am sure many other parts of the country, is theft from their spec homes. Many of the items stolen are the air conditioning units. They sit outside of the home and are often time not locked down or locked in a storage area. Easy access for a thief. Some individuals have gone further and entered homes to steal appliances such as stoves and refrigerators. One incident that occurred here in Austin a few months ago involved a spec home that was broken into and the stove being ripped from the wall. The thieves broke the gas line inside the home and the as a result, the home caught fire and burned to the ground.
What are builders now doing to combat this? They are installing GPS devices IN air conditioning units and stoves. Amazing I thought! The story on the news tonight discussed this technology and local builders in the area that are using it to combat theft. As a result of this one home builder installing such GPS devices, they were able to recover items that were recently stolen from their community.
I never imagined that home builders were installing GPS devices into such equipment, but theft does increase cost and we all know that cost will be past onto our buyers. Any way to combat theft, and keep costs down, is fine by me and by using GPS to catch these people, even the better!
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