My house was in a nice area, but it was near a high crime area.  Finally, I had enough and sold the house.

The Ugly

The Place: Beaver Creek Way, San Jose, California

Casing My House – First Event

I lived in a quiet townhouse community.  Unfortunately, after purchasing the home I discover that the community was constantly being burglarized.  One of the neighborhood boys told me that his house was robbed five times.  I was home on a Sunday and there came a knock on the door.  I opened it and there stood an strange man.  He asked for Bob?  They was no Bob here I informed him.  Oh! He said, “This guy has a motorcycle and I thought he lived here."  He laughed and apologized.  After I closed the door I got the feeling that he was casing the place.  I figured he was knocking on doors to find out if anyone was home.  The next day, I purchased a door viewing hole and installed it the first chance I got. The next time the person could be armed.

The Bad

Beaver Creek Way, San Jose, CA

House Burglarized – Second Event

My Winchester 22 lever action rifle was missing from its wall pegs.  The hall closet door was open and my Nikon FTN camera was missing and my mattress was tossed.  They were looking for handguns under the mattress.  The police came and they couldn’t figure out how they got into the house.  I guess they assumed that I forgot to lock the door.  After the police left I found a broken window behind the large Venetian blind window covering.  That week I installed an inside burglar alarm system with two loud sirens hidden. 

The Good

Beaver Creek Way, San Jose, CA

Burglary Thwarted – Third Event

My wife came home from work and discovered the sliding patio door was off its tracks. 

When I came home we went through the house and found nothing missing.  I checked the alarm and I got a confirmation that it did trigger.  The system worked the alarm scared the bad guys off.  At a homeowners meeting, I discovered that the builder had installed the patio doors, in the development, incorrectly.  The burglaries just had to lift the sliding patio door off its track.  There was no information in the disclosure papers when I purchased the property.  The association had a lawsuit pending against the builder.

The Bad

My Home: Beaver Creek Way, San Jose, CA

Burglary – Fourth Event

My wife and I were coming home from work and we noticed a Mexican fellow sitting in a car near my garage.  An usually place to park a car I thought.  A week later it was obvious … he was casing the houses.  Shortly one morning I discovered, the garage was broken into.  Most of the stolen items were tools my wife was responsible for as executor of an estate sale.  The thieves had used a car to push in the garage door and bend the automatic garage door’s travel bar.  That weekend a bunch of kids came ridding through the garage area and were laughing at me.  They won.  I lost.  So now I could no longer used the automatic garage opener.  Now I resorted to locks on the garage door.  Maybe it was this moment that I thought about selling the place.

 Fifth Event:  I was working in the garage and had to run in for a bathroom break.  When came back to the garage I discovered my bicycle stolen, in the blink of an eye.  The above alarm system would have helped.

Sixth Event:  My wife and I partied and drank way too much and I left my car parked in front of the house. Big mistake!  Thieves stole my car stereo.

Despite all the robberies the alarm system was doing its job.  I really loved that house and the location.  Unfortunately, the townhouse was located to close to East San Jose, a tough neighborhood.  To this day, I regretted selling that place.  The people who bought the house got angry with the realtor for not disclosing all the neighborhood burglaries.