I hope nobody complains that I posted this in General but I wanted to alert as many FReepers as possible.
It is unfortunate but it may not be a good idea to tell the cops in advance...just sayin.
You could probably have your calls fowarded to a neighbor.
Forward all your calls to your cellphone.
Make some lights on a timer.
Make sure your mail delivery is stopped. If you get newspapers delivered stop them too (actually just cancel them, what are you crazy?)
Have neighbors or friend drop in and hang out for a while every other day or so.
Did this friend of your’s make a post on Facebook saying he was going on vacation?
I watched an old Dragnet on Net-flick which had this same story line. Nothing is new under the sun.
When we leave on vacation we let the neighbors know as well as the police.
Thieves have been doing this for decades. Back in the 1980s, I came home at lunch only because I was very sick, waved in a friendly manner to the movers carefully packing and emptying my neighbor’s home, and called the police. My neighbors were on vacation and had never mentioned moving, so I knew what was happening. The only down side was the very long time it took to get their stuff (the “evidence”) processed and back into the home.
Did they have neighbors close by? I can’t imagine neighbors not questioning what was happening if they were close enough to see. We don’t leave town without letting our neighbors know and we don’t leave lights that would advertise that we’re not home. Even the timers tell a different story to folks perhaps casing a home. I read until a different hour every night so having the lights go off at a set time is a sure bet they are on a timer.
A couple of weeks ago we had a friend come in and feed and medicate our cat while we were gone for three days. She decided on her own to turn on lights because it was TOO DARK for the cat. This immediately told anyone up to no good that no one was home - lights on all night???? The “I was just trying to help” kind of friend. She’s done the same with our thermostat before - we set it where we want it when we leave and she for some reason can’t resist meddling with it. Won’t happen again!!!
whevener i go on leave, I notify my pal, frank who comes and gets my mail. by the time anybody figures out that I’m gone, I’m back.
Did he check that he hadn’t lost a kidney?
When I was growing up in Queens, someone came in and cleaned out the next door neighbors house one night when they were on vacation. We never heard a thing. We found a window fan in our yard, just over the fence, apparently left there by the thieves. (It was a low fence and they could have reached around a truck in the driveway to temporarily place it down. We should have had the cops dust it for prints, but it didn’t occur to me.)
One little helpful hint that we do is we ask a trustworthy neighbor to park their additional car in our driveway. We have some late teens next door (very trustworthy, good kids) and we actually throw a few bucks there way for the inconvenience. Bless their hearts... last time we went away, we came home to find all the outdoor flowers even watered. We either take the dogs or board them so I leave a HUGE bowl in the backyard. By HUGE, I mean that someone would assume that I was watering a wolf pack. Thus far, these two tips have worked for us and I hope it works for some FR’s as well.
It has occured to me often - usually after a bottle of champaign - that we are actually possessed by our posessions.
To be sure, there are some possessions that we truly love...but....much of our "stuff" is the "white noise" of life.....or "boat anchor" if you prefer....IMHO
I read about somebody who ended up in a small fender bender. The person who caused the accident gave him some tickets to the ballet.
While he, and his wife attended the show, they got cleaned out.
We have an alarm system that calls the police plus if we are gone overnight my wife’s son stays in the house. He is a veteran of the Afghanistan War and well armed.
This is common and usually an inside job. Mail and newspaper deliverers are not always scrupulous and get $$ from passing along who has canceled such services for their vacations. Don’t cancel your deliveries ever. Have someone pick up your mail and papers (yes, some people still get papers).
You need to thoroughly trust your gardeners and maids. Have them still arrive as usual, if you trust them, while you are gone. Consider even giving them presents or bonuses when you get back from trips. Encourage them NOT to be motivated to tell their cousin Jose that your home will be empty for a week. Help them feel part of the household, so they wouldn’t be part of robbing you. ( give them food or drinks, talk to them, befriend them the rest of the year. Appreciate them.) If you are on poor or distant footing with them, you’d better have a house sitter in your home while you are gone!
A trusted teenager from church (or if girls, two of them) would LOVE to GET OUT OF THEIR HOMES and be “boss” for a while.
Make sure the parents are the type to check on them frequently.
Had an incident to an associate some time ago where he was robbed during weekday work hours. He had a nice 4-wheelin' truck parked in the garage. Theives bust into his house and loaded up the truck in the garage with pretty much everything of major value. Then hitched up the trailer with the jet-ski's and pulled out into the driveway. Within a minute another pickup truck backed into the driveay, into the garage, and hitched up the trailer with the ATV. Then both trucks drove off.
The neighbors didn't think anything of it; the first truck pulling out was the neighbors pickup (familiar), and the other truck was assumbed to be a friends (assuming they were heading up north - a common enough occurance).
A house-sitter turns out to be cheaper in the long run than putting animals in a kennel and trying to deal with your alarm company from 3000 miles away. A lot of times there are no neighbors at home during the workday to notice whether someone has a truck parked in your driveway. My neighbors would have no idea whether I was moving or not; they aren’t nosy.
I hire some nice girls my daughter grew up with; they won’t have crazy parties and their parents are involved. All the alarms and light-timers in the world don’t create the same impression as someone who is actually using your TV, dragging trash and recycling bins in and out, watering the flowers and leaving a hose out for a day then bringing it in the next day, playing music, opening and closing windows, walking the dogs, etc. You can’t fake real life. And they are under strict orders not to post any information about where they’re staying on their Facebook wall!