To want to take big anti-burglary measures after this?

[dontsvetmuchforafatgirl]

We moved into a family house 6 monthsago.

It was an older house and needed quite a bit of renovation.

On Monday night about midnight the doorbell rang. My husband was fast asleep. I thought it might be the teenage daughter next door who had forgotten her keys. I turned lights on and went to front door which is just near to our bedroom ( one storey house). Through window at side of door I could see there was no one there but I heard a noise. My husband had woke up now and we turned on lights in sitting room etc. and looked out windows but saw no one.

We thought it may have been an animal, or teenage prank. However the next day my husband noted that the broom which sits on front porch and leans against door side window had been moved to the other side.

I started to think about it. A few weeks ago an odd man rang our doorbell apparently selling nothing more than what seemed two worthless strawdolls. It seemed suspicious but I felt a bit sorry for him and thought I should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Now I wonder if he was casing our house.

I also realize that all the things that make our house attractive - off behind very quiet street, next to forest, one floor, - probably make it a sitting duck. The doors are lovely but I now realise you could be in and out in minutes. The windows are good though, quadruple glazed (we are in Scandinavia).

I feel horrible thinking that someone could have been sizing up our house. We had just come back from holiday and were so lucky that we were in. My kids are horrified by robbers on the television and it would give them nightmares.

I have been burgled before when I was young and so maybe a little paranoid. I am an incomes here, my husband grew up here in this very peaceful place and thinks I am panicking a bit.
Crime much rarer here. He thinks it was just a prank and no need to get new doors etc.

AIBU?

You had been on holiday. They thought you were away but rang to double check no one was in.

I'd be paranoid too. The only saving grace is they don't want to burgle you while you are in...

Leave a downstairs light on. When you go away make sure you put lamps on timers and arrange somwine to open and close curtains, move post etc.

Don't leave car keys and your handbag in sight of the door.

Thanks for the quick replies. I feel slightly sick about the whole thing. I am on my own ( on holiday from work )with the kids all day. Husband is working. When I look at how breakable our doors are now. I don't want to go out.

I also feel slightly pathetic for feeling like this.
There is a public path in the forest behind our house so it easy to keep an eye on, but also that means that there are people around in the day. Which is why I think they tried at night. Also many neighbors are pensioners and around in the day. What ate the chances of then coming back? They know a family is back in the house?

I got burgled once. Got a big barky rescue dog and an alarm. It's never happened again.

I slept with a crowbar next to the bed for a year after it happened. We were home at the time and I dread to think what had happened if we'd caught them. YANBU, it's instinct to want to protect yourself, your home and your kids.

Why don't you contact a company OP and get an alarm fitted for a bit more ease of mind? Anything that makes your house look more secure will put off a burglar.

Get new doors OP, peace of mind is something to spend money on

If you phone your local police station you can make an appointment for the crime prevention officer to call at your house. He or she will give you advice on how to make your home more secure at minimal cost, and the advice is free.

Get strong (eg UPVC) doors with mortice (sp?) locks (where there are about 4 or 5 locks the length of the door when you turn the key.

Make sure no-one can see in when the house is empty (eg. get blinds or nets for the windows).

Get a burglar alarm. Ask the local police for more security advice.

I can understand the fear of being burgled, one of my friends had a wooden back door with just one lock and all her gold jewellery was stolen including sentimental things. It was horrible.

As a police officer in UK this practice is fairly common where burglars will do "occupancy tests" ie moving the broom or setting something upside down in a side passage to see if the occupant will move it within 24 hrs etc, meaning they are in and won't try that house again until they can confirm the occupant is out.
Must burglars are cowards and will not burgle a house with someone in it.
The best thing you can do is a) install security lights and b) signs saying you have working CCTV, plus if you can stretch to it, c) a dummy CCTV camera at front and rear (visible from public path). If you can afford it get actual CCTV, if you are ever burgled CCTV is INVALUABLE as many burglars are now wise to forensic measures and wear gloves, use the victim's tools so as not to leave anything foreign behind etc
D) tell all your neighbours (front, sides, behind) about it, and get them to be on the look out, constant vigilance!
The doors are immaterial as if they want to get in they will. UPVC doors and windows are surprisingly easy to pop open. However keep keys well out of sight and don't leave car keys anywhere on display.

Good advice hotfuzz

Don't leave a downstairs light on. It can look like a security light if it's on at 4am-ie left on because you're away.

So it seems that I'm not reading too much into it.

Hot fuzz et al you have some really good advice.
I spoke to my dad and he seemed a little dismissive.
All we need is a couple of deadlocks he said.

I just feel that I need more. This might be because the last time I was burgled, I had some weird wrong numbers and then a few days later arrived home to find my door off its hinges and the place completely ransacked. They took almost everything, I had of value - electronics, coats, musical instruments, you name it.
I know I can overreact. But I think security lights, deadlocks,
Possibly an alarm?

Get a nice noisy alarm - we put in a wireless yale one very easily for well under 200 and it calls us if it gets set off. Made me feel a lot better. On our road only one neighbour doesn't have an alarm and they got burgled.

We live in an area that is bad for burglary. In the last year the four houses nearest ours have all been burgled other than our next door neighbour and our house. We both have an alarm, the ones that have been burgled don't.

OP it's a terrible feeling to be vulnerable, or to think you are in your own home and if you've been burgled previously that feeling is very hard to shake off.

The thing to do is take all the measures that you can reasonably take.

As well as security advice already given don't leave a broom outside, lock away any gardening tools and ladders etc. I see you're in a one-storey home, can you plant shrubs underneath the windows? something with thorns on even - although you obviously need access for cleaning without risking injury.

Could you create a gravel path leading to exterior doors? the noise warns when people are approaching and is a deterrent for thieves. Also add both door chains and big bolts to the exterior doors too.
If you have any sliding patio doors you can buy a bolt which clicks down into the frame, that acts in addition to the turn key on the side and we have a painted piece of wood that we drop in at night or when we're out, that prevents the door sliding if it were forced open.

There are lots of measures you can take to put your mind at rest that you're making your home very unattractive to unwanted attentions.

I looked at some research with prisoners earlier this year, they all said that PVC doors were quite easy to pop and the one thing that put them off was an alarm, even if it's one from Homebase because it's something that will make a noise and disturb occupants and neighbours.

I can verify the alarm thing, I'm on holiday at the moment and someone broke through the shutters on the doors of the house we're staying at, my laptop on the table ipads everywhere, as soon as they got through the door the alarm went off and they legged it with nothing, all the neighbours came running out and called the police. I'm going to fit an alarm and window and door alarms to my own house when I get home now.

Deadlocks, motion sensing lights out front, and an alarm. Be sure to look at moneysavingexpert for alarms, bear in mind though if you don't go through a company then if your alarm faults and goes off for no reason and doesn't have a 'cut-off' time then environmental health can get on your case-especially if it's a recurrent problem. If you go through a company then the issue is with them and they have to sort it out.

Regardless, make sure that the alarm does have a 20 minute cut off if you get one. My neighbours was a 'DIY' job they brought themselves, it went off without fail at least 3-4 days and nights a week. In the end they got so many complaints they had to go through an independent company but thankfully no more sleepless nights.

Thorn bushes below ground floor windows and gravel paths (hard to approach silently) are useful too.

It's worth checking that your current doors and windows meet your household insurance company's minimum standards too.

Get an alarm with a panic button option if you are at home by yourself a lot.
Gravel, thorns and a dog are all good advice.