Am I being unduly paranoid?
I’m thinking of purchasing a brownstone that is part of an estate sale and has been empty for a while–quite abandoned, actually. It has a lot of great detail. A friend told me he had heard that these types of homes are regularly broken into and original architectural elements are stripped. How can I make…
I’m thinking of purchasing a brownstone that is part of an estate sale and has been empty for a while–quite abandoned, actually. It has a lot of great detail. A friend told me he had heard that these types of homes are regularly broken into and original architectural elements are stripped. How can I make sure this doesn’t happen with this home, if I do indeed purchase it? Do I need to make an inventory of everything I see to make sure it’s still there when I do a walk-through?
ADT, wireless system, get a landline and cellular backup. 2-3k install, 50- monthly fee. Peace of mind-priceless. On several false alarms I have beaten the cops there (passing red lights, stop signs etc) but only by a few minutes, they do come right away if ADT cannot reach you. Also fire protection with smoke detectors and may qualify you for insurance discount.
Can all the snarky dicks go back to the main blog part of this site, please? Forum is for people who are actually helpful to others.
Another option OP, is the far superior website Gardenweb, where you can find sane people who don’t need regular medication to behave in a civil manner. There are a lot of people there renovating old houses and confronting the same issues. Their houses don’t have to be specifically a Brooklyn brownstone to give you good advice for your brownstone.
Jeezus, the buyer DOES like old houses, Rehab. They’re buying one. They just want to know how to protect the detail which is a huge part of the reason they’re buying the house in the first place. Give it a rest.
OP, if this worries you go ahead and get an alarm system on the house. If you install a wireless system, the alarm boxes and magnets on the windows are easily removed and reapplied again when you replace the windows with new ones, whenever you do that. Same thing with electric, whenever electric is updated they detach then reattach the wires to the main part of the alarm.
Buy a unit in The Verdi, and you won’t have to worry about this problem.
Yes, you are being unduly paranoid.
I knew I wasn’t being paranoid! Thanks for confirming my fears! This house has so much beautiful woodwork, ornamentation, built-ins and old lighting fixtures that I am certain it will attract looters because it’s empty. There are also tons of keys to the place, circulating between like 10 brokers.
Yes, make an inventory, and install an alarm system straight away that will bring the police if it is set off – if the renovation will take place without you there.
The break-ins often happen during renovation. You have to make sure you have someone guarding the site 24hrs a day (pay a laborer to sleep there) or at least keep a scary dog in there during the reno.. This happened to our neighbor toward the end of his renovation and they took EVERYTHING! He had to wait for insurance payment and start from scratch. Horrible.
Better safe than sorry–make an inventory.
Architectural theft is very common in England, and I knew a guy in London who had a business placing ex-rugby players in empty houses to guard them from such theft. I kid not.