you mean they dug them out of the ground loaded them on a pick up and took them over to their place? No one saw this when it was happening?

The buyer saw this and is not happy...
The wife does not want to get involved....
I was going to go over there today and poke around to see if I can view the rear of the suspects house to verify fresh treees..
Pics do speak a thousand words...
How would you proceed?
They dug them up and carried them a few doors down

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc



I don't know about you, but i think the idea of having a robotic sentry would be much better than anything else i've devised....

Anyone want to get in on a group buy of these things?

Its interesting but I bet its worth more than most of my listings that copper gets stolen from.

If you had the source code......

Maybe $200 in parts?

I dont think I would want to leave a laptop in a vacant house in detroit. Besides you would need more than one to guard an entire house. Not only that, but im sure I would go to jail for using something like this.

I actually had an idea. Have the bank hire someone to remove the copper properly. Most of the damage comes from the copper being removed when the water is on. Then give the copper back once its closed, or have the hire someone to reinstall it. This might work in some neighborhoods, but my listings in detroit get stripped of plumbing, wiring, aluminum siding, or anything else made of metal. I had one property when they tried pulling the piping from the cement in the basement. My plumber had to jackhammer the cement just to crimp the pipe, because the outside valve couldnt be accessed.

Call the police.

It's most likely a felony - Every palm tree we've bought has been over $400, making that multiple counts of grand theft.

10/15/2008- Any copper theft lately with anyones REOs? Copper today is about $2.23 lb, much lower from its high of about $4 several months ago. I have been spared so far with my properties, and wonder about the rest of you for my informal poll.

New listing last week, was vandalized. Not sure when it happened.

Nope not lately. Since these thieves and dope heads never bought the copper from the git-go its all profit to them no matter how much the going rate is. I heard these people are stealing copper out of the street lights in Los Angeles and turning it in. In some parts of the Bay Area, the recycle centers are making people show ID and fill out a form with their information before they can turn in copper and aluminum cans. Not only has it been a problem with copper vandalism but there has also been a problem with people going through recycle bins and trash cans on garbage day and leaving a huge mess in front of homes. A/C units seem to be a huge commodity too!

I knew the one REO my client was going to buy was bad when the home had the copper stolen not once but twice and the bank eneded up footing the bill for a 24 hour security guard. At that point I advised my client to back out of the deal. Thank goodness we didnt remove any contingencies.

I had A LOT of fun negotiating the return of her deposit with the bank. I think they rewrote their addendum after I was able to get all of her deposit returned regardless of what their addendum stated.

We had an old ac unit stored in a niche (sort of out of the way) at one of our triplexes. That thing set there for at least 2 years and I was thinking about getting rid of it because my heat 'n air guy said it was shot. Some thief took care of the removal for me right around the end of August. That's all that's come up missing from any of our properties or listings so far.

I had a double awning that was being used to cover the open side of a stairwell. Someone has taken it loose from the back of the stairwell almost daily in the past two weeks. One of my tenants works for a recycler and she pointed out that people are bringing in all of the aluminum they can get their hands on. She and I hauled that awning into the storeroom for safekeeping the other day. (It's going over a double window once I have a particular house painted.)

edited to say: the point is that this type of theft is happening not just to REOs but also to rental units that are managed by people not on-site.

Theft has slowed down here since the recycling center now requires a picture ID and takes your picture. They require it for everything except cans.