Weird situation with new house

[asshanson]

I mentioned something about this in the shoutbox last night, here is a full description of what happened.

Yesterday around 4pm Emily went over to our new house to do some prep for painting one of the rooms. She saw a truck in the driveway and went inside the house to find a guy in the front bedroom taking pictures of the contents of the closet. He claimed he was there to winterize the house, and had shut off the water and put antifreeze down all the drains. He was contracted by Mid American Property Management out of Nebraska City, NE.

When he first arrived our neighbor came over and told him that people had just moved in, we were painting last weekend and he must have noticed us carrying several boxes in. The contractor called the property management company and they assured him that the bank had ordered the work to be done because it was a foreclosure. Apparently there is no communication between the different mortgage branches within the bank because the foreclosure/short sale department had no record of the house being sold on November 22nd, over 10 days prior.

Emily and the contractor proceeded to take off all the tape/stickers on the faucets and toilets, and he turned the water back on. After he left, Emily checked out the closet where he was taking pictures, and found that my handgun case had been opened and the scope was no longer on the shelf, but had the sun shade taken off and everything put back into the box. Furthermore, he had no reason to be in the bedroom taking pictures because there are no water sources in there, so we think he was planning to find out the value and come back to steal them. He had changed the locks on the front door, so we have no idea if he kept a key for himself. I'm sure there are fingerprints on the scope and handgun, so I didn't touch them in case we need to take them to the authorities.

And finally, the workmanship on the lock change is astonishingly bad. There are pieces of door knob & lock outside the door along with some broken drill bits, he messed up the weather stripping on the outside of the door, there are a pile of door parts inside, and it looks like he totally stripped one of the screws on the inside of the dead bolt and left it half way in. See pics below.

We are wondering what sort of action we can take here. Obviously we are going to ask the bank to pay for a new set of locks (since it was their mistake in the first place), and have it done properly this time. Hopefully he didn't mess anything up on the door while drilling it, it looks like the dead bolt is now tilted sideways quite a bit. I haven't taken it apart to inspect for damage yet. We are also going to search all our things to see if we can find anything missing.

I'm really glad he didn't decide to take my volks, which were sitting on the porch right in front of the door. How do you not realize that people are living there with tons of stuff around the house and a set of 4 boxes delivered that day on the porch? Blows my mind.

[A//// Guy]

That is what i figured happened, mix up with the foreclosure/shortsale.

In any case I would totally get the authorities involved and find out what to do about the pictures he was taking and rummaging through your things.

First thing to do though, go buy new locks for all doors and install them, its easy so just go do that yourself in case the guy comes back with the new keys to the door. I changed mine this spring and its easy and pretty inexpensive for new lock sets.

Save the receipts so you can get reimbursed by either the mortgage company or whatever contracting company did that changeover.

Scary situation but definitely get your locks changed ASAP. Also hide your guns better, like in the attic or something if you dont have a locked box.

[Goat Blower]

I second replacing the locks, like today.

[evotuner]

That is messed up, definitely change your locks and keep yo gun on you for the next few weeks lol

[C3L1CA]

x4 on changing the locks asap.

They are super easy compared to working on cars and I wouldn't trust the guy at all. Keeping recipets to get the money back is a good idea, but even if you don't get it back it'd be worth the peace of mind tonight for me.

[93gtpeater]

I moved the guns to a safe location till you get settled in. I would change the locks asap. I would also take legal action too.

[asshanson]

Yea I have all the guns back at the townhome. Normally they are hidden pretty well, but we had just moved over a bunch of stuff.

I was hoping the bank or property management company would pay for new locks, but I guess it's a really good idea to just do them myself tonight, and have them reimburse me.

Just got word from our realtor, he is talking with the bank and they aren't wanting to admit fault for not cancelling the work order. The sketchy property management company isn't picking up the phone, so until they do we don't know the guys name or anything. Frustrating.

[evotuner]

Also isnt it a felony to steal a gun? This guy must be a tard

[93gtpeater]

You should called the cops when the guy was there. So you had a police report.

[AJ]

Could it be possible he was taking pics of stuff because he's there thinking foreclosed home, winterize, lock everything up. If he's surprised by stuff now in the house and has no info on new owners maybe he's documenting for the company he works for to show there is stuff someone needs to claim or come get? Just a though, may just been him protecting himself so he could show what was there vs. what someone listed as picked up if that was going to happen.

Very weird and someone fucked up and should be able to give you some clarity for sure.

[polishmafia]

I was thinking the same thing as AJ. I wonder if he was cataloging what was "left" in the house. No idea why anyone would leave guns there and unopended boxes on the porch.

If you don't get anywhere with the bank or the management company, I'd take them to small claims court. Make them pay for the new locks, lost wages from work (from going to trial), and mental anguish.

Regardless of who did what in error or not... this is one just weird and scary situation.

[mikefromMN]

I knew a guy that cleaned out foreclosed on houses for a job... You'd be surprised by the things people leave: childrens sports trophies, tax information, wedding dresses and all sorts of personal shit. Don't take it out on him because SOME people are white trash and leave everything behind. He is probably attempting to limit personal liability or make a few extra bucks on the side by selling "forgotten" property. You'd probably do the same (although I don't know you and you may or may not be in the "look out for #1" mentality, no disrespect).

[goodhart]

Originally Posted by 93gtpeater

You should called the cops when the guy was there. So you had a police report.

This. I also would have taken the keys from the changed locks from him before letting him leave. I guess I can't see myself being real nice to this guy regardless why he was actually there. Just seems shady as fuck.

I don't get why he would be changing the locks if he was there to winterize it?


Either way, get those locks changed asap, and get a police report for your records. I will tell you right now though, the chances of you getting them to check for prints is a mega longshot. Prints are expensive and take forever to get back from the crime lab. When I had my $4,000 wheels stolen a few years ago they wouldn't even take prints.

[asshanson]

I changed the locks tonight. Saved the receipt and I will work with the bank to pay for the parts. If not, no big deal because we had planned on paying a locksmith to re-key them anyway. Unfortunately we had to buy entire new lock assemblies because he destroyed the old ones by drilling them out. They were really nice lock assemblies and the replacement he installed was a piece of crap.

I don't especially want to take the contractor to court (not worth the time or money), it was just shady that he had opened my gun cases to take pictures. Maybe it was a liability thing, maybe he was just interested in guns, or maybe he had other intentions, we will never know. However, he just said he had to take pictures of the water sources being shut off to get paid by the property management company. And taking apart my $800 scope to put it back in the box can't be explained.

The house is FULL of stuff besides the big furniture items which we are having a moving company move over for us. That, combined with the neighbor's comments telling him someone recently moved in, should have clued him in, but I suppose he wanted paid for the contract even though it was obviously not necessary.

In retrospect, I should have asked Emily for the license plate and told her to call the cops before she even went into the house, but that's history at this point.

[A//// Guy]

Yea Emily should have taken a license plate for sure and called the cops. Well, see what you can dig up on the contracting company and see if you can find out who it was.

Glad you got the locks changed, that at least is piece of mind.

[Halon]

I would have called the cops, no question about it. Are you saying you still haven't? If you haven't, jeebus dude call them and at least get it on record. Strange dude in your house checking out your guns, I don't care if he had a contract that's enough of a reason for me to call the cops and at least get a report filed in case 6 months down the road you realize something is actually missing. When I had my garage broken into, they were there within like 5 minutes. They dusted for prints because since it was in a house it's now considered burglary which is serious stuff.

[TkrPerformance]

Aly said emily should have called it in and never go in when there is someone there you don't know. The cops would have come and went in with guns out and forced him down and pulled him out. All because of your guns. Even with the work order it is still B&E on his part and could be held on a fenloy for just moving and holding the guns.
Aly also say to still call it in. You need to start the paper trail on this right away.

[Murlo26]

Wow, that is crazy stuff, glad you got the locks changed. Keep us updated on what happens man.

I agree with everyone, I'd still call the cops and see if you can get a report filed now.

[rose0529]

That's crazy! Hopefully everthing else with the new house goes a bit smoother!!

[dsmolition]

Did you ask him what he was doing or why he was looking at your guns?