Stolen Air conditioner condensor - Landlord Forum thread 325071

Stolen Air conditioner condensor by guest (FL) on September 29, 2014 @22:38

We have been trying to sell our house for 4 months and recently decided to put it for rent since the marker where we are at is slow.

The house has been empty for some months as we relocated further south for a new job. A day ago our realtor calls to tell us our air conditioner condenser was stolen! After the shock of this wore off and after talking to a friend in the property management business we decided to keep trying to rent the house and simply let potential tenants know that we would install a new air conditioner condenser right before they moved in. I would hate to install a new one and have it stolen again since the house would still be empty. I haven't heard back, about this idea, from our realtor, but her initial reaction to this robbery was to remove the rental listing. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

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Re: Stolen Air conditioner condensor by Anonymous on September 30, 2014 @06:45	[ Reply ]

You want to sell the house. You have an incident that's going to costs you. And your realtor says remove the listing? First, it's not a robbery, so don't use that term. Robbery is done by force with threat to your life usually using a weapon. If no one broke into the house itself, and only took something outside, you have property theft. So if someone were looking at your house and heard that it was robbed and new the difference between robbery and burglary, they'd be less interested for sure. Second, the problem is not the listing. The problem is your security. SO let me ask you, what are the surrounding like in the area? Is the yard fenced? Can you see through the fence? How close are neighbors? Are neighbors home during the day? Is the electric on? Most tenants and prospective buyers want to see a house with all utilities on. They want to feel how well the AC works. They want to see the rooms lighting. They want to see the plumbing work, etc. The money you think you're saving by not having the utilities on is probably costing you more because your house is not attractive in it's "STALE" condition. Also your condenser probably would not have been stolen if it were wired correctly and the breaker box was inside a locked up house an alarm.

Re: Stolen Air conditioner condensor

Re: Stolen Air conditioner condensor by Katiekate (New York) on September 30, 2014 @09:06	[ Reply ]

Wow..this is soooo common. Thieves look for a place that is empty and cut it in the middle of the night. They also take as much of the power cable as they can reach..the copper is sold for the metal content There are new heavy "cages" and are bolted into the bottom of concrete slabs...then heavy, uncut table locks put in place. These appear to work. I installed this myself after the neighbors had theirs stolen. My placces are empty 3 out of every 4 weeks during the summer months...the locked cages seem to have solved this It was expensive to have all this work done...new concrete pads wil cast iron anchors for the cage to lock into..but..still cheaper than replacing the units

Re: Stolen Air conditioner condensor

Re: Stolen Air conditioner condensor by Garry (Iowa) on September 30, 2014 @09:15	[ Reply ]

If I were you, I would remove the Realtor. She has not gotten your home sold for you in several months, and she views you trying to rent it out as her competition. She knows she will not get a commission if you rent it out,as it will no longer be for sale. The theft happened, and unfortunately you will have to pay for it. Put the AC back in now, and then just try to figure out ways to prevent another theft from happening again.

Re: Stolen Air conditioner condensor