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Thieves targeting vacant homes in DC,MD & VA

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Real Estate Agent

I am out of the DC Metro area based out of Northern VA and I primarily do business in the Northern Virgina as a real estate agent but I also invest in real estate all over the area including DC and MD in all price points of. I also help many other investors buy and sell their own investment homes in and around the area in addition to my own. Just as flipping homes is growing in popularity at least with the media shinning a light on it so has breaking and entering which will all know is not a new thing but over the recent years I have noticed a major increase of break in's on properties in the lower price points areas. As more and more homes are being foreclosed on or short sold more and more investors are going in and purchasing the property that are typically distressed and not occupying them and selling them quickly for a profit. I used to have to worry about theft of the contractors tools and or materials while the property is being worked on but I personally have not heard or seen a lot of those problems recently. I have seen more and more properties being broken into after the work is complete and the home is on the market and since its a quick turn around from purchase to renovation to resale the properties usually are vacant.  These fully renovated homes that sit vacant are now a target for thief's to break in and steal the appliances and in the process they typically end up causing major damage to the home. There is an on going investigation  with the local police department that looks like will be breaking up a big ring of people that pray on vacant homes so I currently can not say all the details but I want to warn and give a bit of advice to all home owners, investors and Real Estate agents I suggest to protect the property with a security system. Our homes all have security systems now and mobile video surveillance. What I can say is the brilliant theif's posted the stolen good's the very next morning on craigslist and all the appliances have been recovered damaged but recovered and all from a store that advetises the items as by owner not dealer. 

Yes insurance will cover the damages to the home and appliances but it would have been nice not to deal with those issues and the neighborhood is actually a very nice neighborhood that is typically safe.  The criminals seem to be using the Internet ( online real estate sites showing inside pictues and the address ) to acquire and sell the items they steal from homes. This now will make it more difficult in marketing a vacant home for sale because you want buyers to know where the house is and you want to show prospective buyers what the house is like. I will not be allowing the address to be shown  to the public real estate sites anymore or will not be holding an open house either.  Safe neighborhood or not the theif's are going after newly renovated  vacant homes that are a sitting duck. Don't be that sitting duck a security system is a small investment to protect your time and money. 

Posted by

John M. Rebolledo, Realtor, ILHM 

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