having had acquaintence with a few low level zombies back in they day [ same circle of neighborhood, NOT runnin buddies], mostly predators look for 'easy' circumstances..ie rural outta the way homes or rows of darkened houses at 6 pm during fall daylight savings etc for purely 'lets get whatever they got to pawn' type hits...
the more dangerous breed imo were the guys that saw somethin that tickled whatever their fancy was at the time, ie ie drugs, 'cool' electronics, guns etc and determined to have that particular item ASAP...
all in all, mostly criminals of 'opportunity' either way, which is to say, Dont advertise and Dont 'look' like an easy target, and be a good boyscout...
Five years ago we had a similar type break-in our neighborhood where 8 or 12 houses were hit. If your home had double front doors which are easier to kick open, you were a target. Perhaps the larger alarm company sign on the house kept them away from us but I added a 2K security/storm door to the front entrance anyway.
I found out later that all four were captured while comitting a break-in in Reno, and yeah, all of the buggers were illegal aliens. One was armed. 40 some break-ins in all. That would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 40K in damages alone for the insurance companies to cough up.