The Wild West(ern Sydney )

[Robbiep]

Hi All,

I just thought i would let you know our things are going with the property i purchased in Western Sydney.

Settlement took place 2 days ago and I will start with the painting this weekend.

When i was at the property yesterday, a day after settlement, i noticed the side door open and someone had broken in. Obviously, there was nothing to steal and luckily nothing was damaged.

I went over to speak to the neighours and introduce myself and told him someone broke to get into the property. He said he would keep an eye out for me. I just got a call from the selling agent, who still had the ‘for sale’ boards up. They told me to call the Mt Druitt police station as the police arrested the guy (20 years old) in the shed of my property after the neighbour alerted the police (around 1am). I just shows, it pays befriend your neighbours.. even if its an investment property.

This weekend i will start with the painting and try get tenants in asap to stop unwanted guests as a vacant property is vulnerable.

Out of interest, are you guys aware of any clever ways of perhaps stopping unwanted guests from trying to enter your property? I have done the following:

1: Chatted to neighbours to about alerted police if they see anyone my the property
2: I left a note on my front door saying “You are being watched by my neighbour who will called the police immediately if you are seen on this property”
3: I left all the lights on, hopefully giving an appearance that the property is occupied.
4: The property has been insured, so i do have some piece of mind knowing that I am covered if they any major damage was too occur.

I would be interested to hear from others who have bought in the area about what they have done to prevent unwanted guests from getting into their property while they do renovation work after settlement.

Regards,
Robbie

 

[DaveM]

Depends on where in western sydney. It can range from no problems leaving it empty to living in the house during reno to stop it getting vandalised.

 

[JWR]

Good job Robbie,

I'd almost be inclined to leave the door wide open in the hope your property gets burnt down - nice payout

What are the figures for the property - i.e. price paid, reno, rental etc...

 

[Robbiep]

The property is in Tregear.

The neighbour warned me of a 'trouble maker' in the area and it appears he was the one arrested last night (according to the police). I am hoping his run in with the police make him think twice about trespassing again.

As mentioned before, previously someone did get into the property, but nothing was taken or damaged. The only thing that was done was that the horrible blinds were removed from the lounge and thrown in the street. Other than that, the property was untouched.

Depending on how things go, i might even plug in my old CRT Television in the lounge. My wife has been begging me to get rid of it for about a year now. So ill switch on the telly when I leave the property in the late afternoon, hopefully the flickering of the TV will make the property look occupied 

I am also going to put 1 page posters around the property i.e. front doors, side doors, the she etc. I attached a sample of the posters.

Regards,
Robbie

 

[DaveM]

Tregear isnt too bad, tho gets worse the closer to Forrester Road/Lethbridge Park. The eastern part near Aurora drive through to Ellsworth Drive is good.

 

[skater]

I don't mind Tregear at all. Like all suburbs, if there is a troublesome tenant in a home nearby you will have problems. In saying that, there isn't that many troublemakers around. I've got one in Tregear & have never had any problems. Friends had one too. They sold because the neighbour was the local drug pusher who caused problems in their street (but nowhere else).

The local midget minds don't seem capable of straying far from home.

 

[nww]

You can buy a portable battery sensor alarm from Dick smiths for $40
Takes 4 pencil batteries, has four buttons to activate and turn off alarm.
Mount them around the entry area's and when you have the place rented
use them around your own home.

I have a few down around my sheds where I have no power and use them
with rechargeable batteries, the sound from the alarm going off is ear piercing
but resets after about 2 minutes, battery life is normally about 3 months.

When ever I have a property vacant I have a spare I place inside until tenant
moves in.

http://dicksmith.com.au/product/L9603/keypad-controlled-home-pir

 

[Robbiep]

Another good idea

Good news is that they arrested the bugger. The police told me he was actually trying to break into the neighbours home, and when the woke up and alerted the police, the bugger went to hide in my shed.

The good news is that he has broken into my place and realized there was nothing to steal, so he tried with the neighbours and has been arrested and charged.

Lets hope that is enough reason to leave my empty property alone for now, but
I will still get one of those portable alarms though

 

[Cherry Pro]

Good to hear that he did get nabbed, Robbie. Probably won't happen again. We bought ours in a pretty nice cul de sac in Hebersham last year and renovated it over 6 weeks, every evening before we left or our tradies left, we'd leave couple of lights on and did not have any issues.

Hope the reno goes quickly and you can have it tenanted before not too long.

 

[travelbug]

We put a sensor light on the front porch. Plus agree with meeting the neighbours. They are more likely to care if it's not just some investors house.
We always make out it's our first investment and we hope the tenants look after it etc etc.

 

[Robbiep]

Thanks.. i actually just bought one of those portable battery sensor alarms from dick smiths, there were having a special and picked one up for $30

I plan to put it in the the passage, which all 3 rooms, lounge, bathroom and kitchen feed off.

 

[Jindaro]

Tregear

Friends had one too. They sold because the neighbour was the local drug pusher who caused problems in their street (but nowhere else).

Ah yes, that would be hubby and I. Hubby's first house was the cheapest house in Tregear and we were going to move in for 1 year, do it up and move on. 1 year extended to 2.5 years and I was begging to leave because of the neighbours amongst other things.

The 'bad' neighbour live in a department of housing house. They are the local drug dealers, she is the local prostitute, the teenage son steals motorbikes and has a chop shop there, domestic violence is a daily thing for them, their 3 youngest children were taken by DOCS about 6 months ago and had not been returned when we left in February and the list goes on. At one stage 2/3 of their windows were broken from DV (her to him) and this was in winter with a little baby and a toddler in the house.

When hubby bought his house 3 years ago, the seller's tenants moved out and within a few days the 'bad' neighbours did 10k of damage and theft. We know it was them as our 'good' neighbour told us but did not call police as they didn't want to get involved. Hubby said he wasn't settling until things were replaced which the seller did. 1 week before hubby settled and while the works were going on, we asked the seller if he wanted us to stay there overnight with our dogs so things wouldn't get stolen again and he was most appreciative.

Hubby's house faced the Tregear Reserve that looks out to the Blue Mountains and while the view is gorgeous, complete with grey kangaroos, it's a common dumping ground for stolen cars that were then set on fire.

Things we did to protect ourselves from theft were:
1. purchased a mean looking (but loving to us) Rotti x Great Dane from the pound. He is still with us and is our gorgeous boy
2. installed cameras all around the house
3. installed 2m high fencing with spikes to the reserve to keep undesirables out
4. as we were on a battleaxe block, we installed an expensive lock to the gates at the front boundary that couldn't be unlocked easily

Out of the 4 things, I think the dog worked the best as the neighbours were terrified of him. Put it this way, I wouldn't want to meet our dog in a dark alley heheh. But he knows our friends and lets them in. He doesn't seem to mind Skater and Bargain Hunter

All went well with our security plans until the very end, 2 days prior to settlement, when we took all of our 4 dogs to the new place (my old house) for 4hours. We arrived home to find we had disturbed our neighbours from breaking into our house and stealing a laptop, my 120yr old engagement ring and hubby's wedding ring amongst other things. We couldnt prove it was them but who else would see us leave with the dogs in tow.

We stayed in the house until we received a phone call from our conveyancor at 4pm on settlement day to say she had the cheque, then we drove away.

That night at 11.30pm, someone stole a mini skip truck and burnt it out in front of our old driveway. Our 'good' neighbour sent us a pic. Lucky we got out just in time *sigh*

We sold the house for near to the top of the price range for Tregear earlier this year. I've attached some before and after photos if anyone is interested. Now to start renovating my house. Am getting the garage approval tomorrow - woohoo.

Ciao, Sharon

 

[Robbiep]

Thanks for the information

What street was the property located in?

 

[Robbiep]

Based on the block type (battle axe) and the fact it faced the reserve, was the property in Wilkes Cres, Kemp Pl or Terra Nova Pl?

 

[Robbiep]

Looks like it was Kemp Place, I will keep that street in mind

 

[JimSydney]

We spoke with our neighbour and she said she'll keep an eye on it as some people in the area were squatting in empty houses.

She told us to make sure the blinds are closed and flick a light on.

For sale signs out the front are a big giveaway for people to break in.

 

[Robbiep]

JimSydney, did you also recently buy in the area?

 

[skater]

There are many vacant homes in the area that don't have a problem. Jindaro had many problems because of her midget mind neighbours. I lived one suburb over for 7 years and never had any issues at all. Mind you, we had good neighbours and no 'interesting' people in our part of the street. And that really is the key.

These 'interesting' people, for want of a better work, are often lazy sods and don't travel far from home. Often, but not always, they are teens and break in for fun, but as Jindaro found out (the hard way, poor thing) some of them are just really nasty.

Please, if there is one thing you do, when buying in the area (and other H/C communities), check out what is going on with the neighbours.

 

[JimSydney]

Hi Robbiep

Yes I bought in Tregear this year also.

Mine came with tenants.

 

[macca446]

Hi All,
Yes I had similar problem in my IP in Tregear finished small renovations while waiting to be tenanted somebody decided to steal all the copper piping from the house, I only first noticed as I was outside went to grab the hose and found no front tap or rear tap , went under the house all was gone to they even knocked out external wall in garage to take the copper water pipe, fixed through insurance was about $5000 to replace but once i got tenants no more problems,learnt a lesson from now on use pvc tube instead.

cheers,
Don