ripped off
 

Just to give a heads up to all you out there keep an eye on your garages i have never ever had anything stolen until i moved here my garage door was open while i was cutting my grass and working on the yard and when i went inside to get a drink someone came into my garage and stole my mini mower and the charger that goes with it DAMN shut your garage doors or else.

Did you report the theft? We're still in PA and it happens often here. We put a key pad on our garage door to easily get in and out. It avoids temptation for those not so honest.

Where do you live, Aware one? Did you notice any strange cars parked? Did you report the theft? Who do you think did it? Was it where someone could easily see it? I drive by open garages all of the time and I couldn't tell you what they had in them.

People move into a 55+ community, they think their days of worrying about theft are over, they get complacent and :boom:, some low life piece of trash thug/thugs bring them back to reality. Keep your doors/windows locked, garage doors down and ALWAYS BE AWARE.

Did you speak with your neighbors?

If you want to keep garage door open Harbor Freight has a driveway alarm similar to the one for garage door obstructions. I have it set up just inside the garage, triggers when anyone one enters garage. I've seen it on sale for under $15.

You don't live here yet. You will find that these kinds of things are most unusual. Wait and see.

Thefts
 

A few years ago there was a bunch of thefts where it was determined that the thieves cased the home at night, when lights were on, and it was easy to see what was inside the house. At dusk my blinds are all closed for the night. Our villa backs up to a golf course but that is not a guarantee that someone is not casing the place out. Also, around the same time, thieves were lifting sliding doors out of their tracks and getting in to a home that way. We know it can be done because my husband on two occasions has lifted our neighbor's door out of its track to let locked-out tenants in. There are easy fixes for this issue. Let's make it very difficult for these scum bags to rob us.

The "easy fixes" include pins to prevent lifting of the door and a stick in the track to prevent the sliding.

Every time we leave the house we close our garage door and if we go out of town we lock our garage door then go out the front door and lock it with the key. Also we lock our garage door at night. For anyone who doesn't know this...there is a toggle switch on the bottom of the garage door piece outside the kitchen door or inside the garage. When the lights are green on the up and down then the garage door can be opened. When the toggle switch is turned to the right there is a red light and the garage door can't be opened.

The original post was the door was left open while in another area of the yard and not entry through a closed garage door.

As other posters have asked, did you report the incident to the police and in what village do you live? If reported, the police can do more cheeks and if not reported, should be. For those living in the vicinity, it would be helpful to know if they should be more cautious and look out for unusual vehicles or people.

If the poster could address some of the questions asked, it would be helpful for those living in The Villages and also for those of us that don't.

I'll be there FT the last week of May. You have to understand, it's just habit with both my wife and I; it's not that we don't trust people, we've dealt with the dregs of society for our entire adult lives. We're just cautious and don't leave nothing to chance.

You will need to prepare yourself for Disney. Back packs and purses are left on baby strollers constantly -- outside unattended --when the family is on a ride such as Its a Small World or Haunted Mansion. :confused::oops:

Yes, we installed regular screws in the upper tracks, leaving them low enough to prevent the doors from being lifted up to remove them. Years ago we had an intruder start into our side courtyard at just about dusk. We were in our lanai and heard the gate open. When my husband confronted him he turned and ran. The police arrived too late to catch him. Ever since that night, probably 15 years ago, we have had a padlock on our gate. Let's see, garage door down and locked, front door locked, blinds closed, gate locked. Unfortunately, this is how we have to live if we want to keep the possessions we have worked for. The crooks are looking for something they can sell easily, or pawn, for a quick drug fix. They do not care who they rob. Two years ago, while on vacation up north, I had a beautiful diamond ring, my wedding band, and a Hawaiian heirloom-style ring stolen from the nightstand while we were out golfing. The thief busted the door in and made off with about $11,000 of my jewelry. Lesson learned: Never leave anything in plain sight. At least make it difficult for them to find your valuables.