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People will steal almost anything. We are in vacant houses everyday and it amazes me that a thief will steal something that isn't even worth the time to remove it. Case in point: medicine cabinets and ceiling fans in Las Vegas. You've got to be kidding me.
That people would go through the trouble of removing a recessed medicine cabinet tells me they just wanted to vandalize the property. It leaves a hole in the wall and really looks trashy. A recessed medicine cabinet costs about $20.00 and I'm sure they won't be gentle in removing it and transporting it. I'm pretty sure it will end up on Craigslist for $5.00. Maybe I'm in the minority, but $5.00 just isn't worth going to jail for.
Stealing a ceiling fan, by comparison, is a little more understandable. After all, they cost in the neighborhood of $50.00 and would probably fetch $15 on the open market. We did a job that required us to replace some stolen fans and you could see where the thieves turned a 5-gallon bucket over to stand on to disassemble the fan. It must have taken them a while because they smoked many cigarettes in the process.
The thieves doing this aren't owners in trouble (although in some cases they are). These houses are being burglarized after the bank takes the property back. If I can make a suggestion to asset managers, turn the water off to the house in the garage (if the home has a separate shut-off valve). This way, the water will still be on for the landscape but off inside the home. In many cases as a parting shot, thieves will plug up a drain and leave the water running to cause a flood. It will also prevent a flood in the event a pipe freezes and breaks.
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