[Mimivillager]

Originally Posted by Indydealmaker

Lots of our friends leave their garage doors open if they face west to keep the heat from building up in the garage. We do from time to time, but we have a motion sensor that will alert us to anyone entering the garage. It is easy to hear even from the backyard and lanai.

How annoying is that motion censor when you are working around your garage? I might be interested in getting one.

[jblum315]

Originally Posted by buggyone

"How did you arrive at that conclusion? We have visiting children in our neighborhood frequently. Are they all suspect?"

Bold burglaries in the same neighborhood while school is out of session and children/grandchildren are visiting in the neighborhood. Are they all suspect? No, just those who know what is valuable to steal.

Keep your garage doors down and the keys to your carts and cars well inside the house - not hanging on a hook by a door, either. I have talked to a few friends here in The Villages and they normally keep their car keys in the car and cart keys in the cart while in the garage. What can you say?

I say you can't fix stupid. I would never leave my keys in the car/cart. Never have, never will. Besides, if I did,I would look for them in the house and wouldn't be able to find them!

[twinklesweep]

Originally Posted by Rc Moser

"It is possible that someone may have an opener with the same frequency" Depending on how old the system.. Most older openers have 4 or 5 digit 4 roll frequency set where you slip the numbers from 1 to 5 making new combination to change the Frequency. Some thief's drive around with an opener till the have hit. Especially new systems cause you have go in and manually reset the factory setting, otherwise if I buy new one it maybe set on same Frequency?.

It is possible that that "someone" with an opener that uses the same frequency has it with criminal intent in mind (and assuredly NOT visiting children). A while back there was an issue of criminals riding around with garage door openers just trying till they happened to hit on one that worked.

My suggestion would be to get the instructions for reprogramming your garage door openers and doing so. I did this and feel more secure as a result. If your garage door was installed by Ro-Mac (on Rolling Acres Road), as mine was, they can give you the instructions or tell you where to find it. If not Ro-Mac (or someone else local), it should be available online.

As far as Community Watch is concerned, I've never seen them race through here, if anything the opposite: I see them drive by slowly looking one way or the other, and if I'm out in the driveway area they invariably make eye contact with me.

I agree with those who point out the foolishness of creating an "invitation" by leaving the garage doors open.

[rubicon]

In fairness and in the interest of balance another possible reason a garage door is left opened is that there is a defect such as the laser unit misaligned which prevents a garage door from closing. It is easy to believe once you pushed the button that the door is closing and you walk away.

If the reason people are leaving their garage doors up is heat I might suggest that there are several companies that offer screen for garages. We purchased an overhead screen door that serves that problem well.

[Jim 9922]

Originally Posted by Indydealmaker

It is super cheap. Super easy to use. No installation. Battery operated. Got mine at "As Seen On TV" store up on 441 or you can buy online.

Attachment 18104

Thanks for the quick response. I'm off to the store.

[gomoho]

I admit it I'm STUPID - have left the keys in the car while it is parked in the garage for
the last 40 years. Only time it backfired is once when I was taking a shower and my mom who has dementia got in the car and drove off. All's well that ends well. Thank goodness. Always thought that was one of the benefits of a garage - leaving the keys in the ignition.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by jblum315

I say you can't fix stupid. I would never leave my keys in the car/cart. Never have, never will. Besides, if I did,I would look for them in the house and wouldn't be able to find them!

That's funny, jblum. The reason we started leaving keys in the car was because we kept looking for them in the house and weren't able to find them! But we lived in an out-of-the-way neighborhood, with a 300-foot driveway well off sight of the road.

But you can fix stupid. We are no longer going to keep keys in the cars.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by herbaru

I'm wondering where do you think these children are hiding the cars???

Good point.

Maybe a car-theft ring? Also, to my albeit uneducated-in-thievery mind, these incidents sound like the work of more experienced people. To rob someone blind while they're in their backyard takes an awful lot of nerve. If they were kids, they've been at it a long time.

[NoMoSno]

Its not that hard to open a closed door.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P-zTdoGTQo]Protecting your home from a garage door-opener break-in - YouTube[/ame]

If a thief is determined to get in, he/she will...

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by DENNIS G

We have a friend that lives on Simpson Street in Mallory. Last week they were working in their back yard by Stillwater Trail and their house was entered by someone and stole a lot of jewelery, I Pad, coins, and other money. Entry was thru the garage. The week before their neighbor 3 houses away had their car stolen from their open garage, while they were taking a nap. This past week end there were eight or ten deputies and 3 state troopers in unmarked cars patroling aroung Bishopville Loop and down Hengan Place. I later found out that a car was stolen from the garage or attemped to be on Bishopville Loop but don't have any other information. Just Beware and keep your Door Closed.

Thanks for posting that. Which village or location would Stillwater Trail be in??? Better safe than sorry, but the audacity of the perps. Again, thanks.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

Thanks for posting that. Which village or location would Stillwater Trail be in??? Better safe than sorry, but the audacity of the perps. Again, thanks.

Stillwater runs west to east just south of LSL. It then goes east southeast.
Thru village of Caroline & Mallary Square.

You may want to obtain a map of The Villages, $5 at the sales center.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by gomoho

I admit it I'm STUPID - have left the keys in the car while it is parked in the garage for
the last 40 years. Only time it backfired is once when I was taking a shower and my mom who has dementia got in the car and drove off. All's well that ends well. Thank goodness. Always thought that was one of the benefits of a garage - leaving the keys in the ignition.

Having cared, in our home, for a mom who had dementia....I had to chuckle. Although it truly is not funny when it happens. Right?

Mine totally FORGOT how to drive so we were lucky that way......
But once while we were all staying in a hotel, adjoining rooms with a connecting door.....she escaped late evening and went down to crash a wedding in the atrium by the pool, in her nightgown, barefooted, with her purse on her arm, looking like Sophia in THE GOLDEN GIRLS.....front desk called us at midnight to come down and get her.......we could never figure out how she opened the deadbolt lock.

But, getting back to the thieves........any type of "invasion" is frightening.
Everyone up here used to leave their doors open, their keys in their cars, etc. but those days are long gone.........

Besides thieves, once our neighbor's little 4 year old boy got into their pickup truck and turned it on....got it rolling down the street which is a hill....luckily his dad spotted him and jumped to the rescue.....

So, whether it is old grannies, little boys or the unwanted thief, better to not leave keys in the car.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

Stillwater runs west to east just south of LSL. It then goes east southeast.
Thru village of Caroline & Mallary Square.

You may want to obtain a map of The Villages, $5 at the sales center.

Thank you. Now I remember where it is. I do have a map but it's upstairs.
I've been up and down all morning (tri level house).....taking a "rest"....

Appreciate the info.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by CFrance

That's funny, jblum. The reason we started leaving keys in the car was because we kept looking for them in the house and weren't able to find them! But we lived in an out-of-the-way neighborhood, with a 300-foot driveway well off sight of the road.

But you can fix stupid. We are no longer going to keep keys in the cars.

Like you, our daughter and her family live in a rural area with a 600 foot long dirt driveway leading up from the two town dirt roads.......so they no doubt feel "safe" as who could find them in the middle of the forest? However, I worry when they always leave their doors wide open and their keys in all the vehicles........as sometimes these out of the way neighborhoods can be more easily burglarized than where homes are closer together and neighbors keep an eye out for each other...............

[graciegirl]

I first had to wonder if this information was recircled information having to do with a golf cart stolen from a garage in Mallory or Caroline and found nearby in a parking lot. It happened about a year ago when a person went out early to get the paper and forgot to close the garage door. I think I remember that the cart was intact with everything on it. I thought at that time it might have been kids. There was also two breakins in the area north of 466 off Buena Vista about that time and jewelry was taken. It was the adult son of a resident that was caught.

However I probably am wrong as the OP said this was recent. Sometimes when you get information about something it is all a collective jumble and mostly right, but not entirely right.