Not surprisingly, on average, homes that are burglarized tend to be homes that have no dogs. Large dogs may present a physical threat, but don't count ankle-biters out. They bark and attract a lot of attention. For those who do strike at night, poor lighting makes it harder for neighbors to see what they're doing.
What are the odds of your house being burgled? The FBI crime report expects one in every 36 homes in the US to experience a burglary.
Front door: 34% of burglars twist the doorknob and walk right in. First-floor windows: 23% use a first-floor open window to break into your home. Back door: 22% come in through the back door. Garage doors: 9% gain entrance through the garage.
They often pick a house by surveilling the neighborhood and finding the one with the most predictable patterns of when people come and go. They also look for properties in more rural or isolated parts of the neighborhood, and houses that are well maintained or have fancy cars in the driveway.
Not only is having a bunch of flyers or stickers stuck in your door a nuisance, it can also serve as a way for burglars to mark your home. Many burglars will stick flyers or stickers on homes that they think are unoccupied to serve as an indicator for their accomplices that the home is unguarded.
Time Well Spent. Store a few small items in a wall or mantel clock, as long as the clock itself isn't worth stealing! Tape them to the back or put them in any open cavities. Steer clear of these hiding places, because that's where burglars always look first!
Fortunately, unlike movies, most burglars are looking to steal your belongings, not harm you. It's still pretty terrifying, though, to wake up in the middle of the night and realize someone else is in your house—and one can't exactly read a burglar's mind or know his or her intentions.
Repeat Business – Ex-burglar has provided insight; “Burglars come back to the same houses quite often. They do this because of a number of motives. It's guaranteed that the people they robbed replaced the stuff they stole the first time, and often these replacements are of better quality than the original”.
Knowing when most burglaries occur is powerful information. The most common times for break-ins occur between 10 am and 3 pm. Rather than being guarded by night, most burglars choose the daytime to attempt a break-in, targeting homes when they believe no one will be present.
Shockingly, 85% of burglars will know their victims.
According to home break-ins statistics, it's far more likely that the person knows you.
The four main ways a burglar will choose their job include the following: Look for vulnerable folks (elderly, those living alone, easy targets, etc.) Opportunistic (very little forethought or planning) Desirability of property (smarter criminals)
Dogs Deter (Some) Burglars
Burglars like to target homes that are easy to access, and a dog can be the first line of defense to deterring theft. An Idaho news station asked 86 burglars how they break in to homes and learned that most would avoid houses with loud, large dogs.
“That's where you have your clothes, your jewelry, your extra cash, your weapons, your prescriptions—anything of value.” Hiding things under the mattress is one of the oldest tricks in the book, so a thief will likely check there for hidden treasures, he says. That might be why this is the first room burglars check.
An investigative report by KGW8 out of Oregon surveyed 86 burglars. The study concluded that if “a homeowner had a big, loud dog most burglars would stay away.” One of the convicted burglars even said, “dogs are a deal breaker for me… Big breeds, home protectors are the best to keep people out.”
Burglars target the master bedroom where they look for cash, jewelry, electronics, guns and anything else that might be valuable. People often leave money and jewelry in plain sight and in the most obvious and common areas in the master bedroom.
Do security lights deter burglars? Yes, they can. Light makes it hard for them to conceal their identity, so they are more likely to find a darker home.
The most secure place to install a safe would be at the corner where two outside walls meet. This provides the most protection and support for a heavy safe. In a house that has multiple levels, it's best to keep the safe on the ground floor.
Some research has also found corner homes are more vulnerable to burglaries because they are more accessible, have fewer neighbors, and can be inconspicuously scoped out as prospective targets from corner traffic lights or stop signs.
If a burglar is scouting the area, more than likely he will go to the house that does not have a security system to avoid the hassle. Studies show that a home with a monitored alarm system is actually one third less likely to be burglarized than the unprotected home next door.
Most Burglars Admit Alarm Systems Deter Them
In a University of North Carolina at Charlotte study that surveyed 422 convicted burglars, 83% of burglars admitted they check homes for alarms before breaking in. 60% of the burglars claimed an alarm would change their minds.