My prize ghetto listing was stripped this week of all its beautiful, recently winterized copper. Stupid crooks..they could have just went through the front window, which I leave open a crack for ventilation. Instead what do they do? They rip the boards off the rear windows and door, and smash the glass out of a throw-away vinyl replacement rendering the whole window unit junk.
Anyone else get hit recently?

Well apparently one of my REO's has been a hot spot to drop off illegals. Nothing will stop them from breaking into the property. Detached side door, they are going through the attic(or keeping them in there). I'm probably going to call the border patrol and let them know what's going on.

YEP...had some tenants moving out of a 4 unit ..CFK... next thing i know they called me asking me why i shut off the water...i headed over there...and the copper was missing... i suspect they did it themselves... they just happened to be getting there CFK that day ..everything packed and ready to go..and they copper goes missing and water shut off? ...they were real shady... i got another one ..absolutely nothing left in the place.. nothing ! ..what a shame

Had one incident this winter....they kicked in the basement door, cut out the pipes that were easy to get to; $800 worth of damage. Crazy thing....the house sits at a busy four-way intersection with constant traffic. These criminals just didn't care.

"the house sits at a busy four-way intersection with constant traffic. These criminals just didn't care."


Heck if that's the case you should have bought it,demoed it,and sold to a developer for a better and higher use and made a killing.

Even though I work in small cities mostly (Harrisburg, Lebanon and Lancaster PA) we still have the same issues with copper theives. The worst part is they generally take the water meter with them. In Harrisburg, you need what they call a City Settlement Sheet to close. This form is basically a list of unpaid city bills (sewer, trash, water) and they also require a buyer's inspection in which the inspector notes the water meter reading. Replacing the water meter is not an option, since there's no plumbing and they won't hook it up.
So we have to get notarized statement from both buyer and seller, leave a $180 escrow (which always seems to be the amount due after installation) and wait 3 more weeks.
The worst part is that there are only 3 places that the copper can be sold, all conveniently close to the majority of the REO properties.
My take is that the thieves look for the water shut-off notices that the city posts is large letters on the front door. They're kind of like yelling "Come On Down" on the Price Is right

Around here we have quite a few large pivot farm irrigation sprinklers. With a nice large copper wire running along the top of them for up to 1/2 a mile. Thieves have been stealing those in the winter. Mind that they have to climb 20 feet in the air all along the sprinkler to take of the brakets holding the wire.

Haven't had any stolen from any of our REO's (knock on wood), but about 2 months ago a local man was killed trying to steal the copper off the top of an electrical pole, you know the really big ones on the side of the highway with all the signs that say "WARNING, high electical levels" and such...

Copper was totally stripped in one of my really bad neighborhood listings.

Just got a new listing in a decent neighborhood (same city) and there is a big sign in the yard of a house a few doors away ...

It says "I WILL BUY YOUR COPPER"

Are you kidding me?

Yep- me too. They got all the copper pipes, AND started stripping the copper electrical wires from the basement up. IMO about $2000 worth of damage for what the police said would yield the bastards $30-40 worth of crack....

A good reason to leave the electricity turned on... sort of a home made bug zapper.

I had the copper stolen at one of my listings in northern NH a couple months back. I am so tempted to put a sign on the door that say "Copper has already been stolen, so don't bother!"

Thats a good one.

NH-REO- I like that! I may use it all my listings in questionable areas, whether it was stolen or not. Of course, if prospective buyers see it, they may not even call, and I am sure the Bank wouldn't like it....
Oh well, it seemed like a good idea at first!

I have a reo listing with the buyer as well and he noticed that someone stole some palms tree's... He knows who and I think I do..
What to do?? I know what I would like to do...
By the way the people that stole them have a $800,000 house which is very exspensive for my area