/diy/ - Do It Yourself

ummm dont move in?

peace of mind is worth shelling out more money for a better place.

going through the trouble of hiding/camo'ing your stuff will just be a bigger hassle in the long run.

>>213392
already made first payment, moving in next week. I'm kicking myself for not reading up sooner

>>213395
eat the payment dude, or try to get your money back. have you actually recieved the keys yet? sign a lease?

trust me, ive been in the same situation and it cost me way more than a months rent.

if you total it up, the cost of hiding your stuff or doing w/e it is your wanting to do will equate to a months rent as well.

i know it sucks.

get renters insurance and don't give a shit.

>>213407
this sounds like a pretty solid idea. Don't keep anything important or irreplaceable in your apartment until you can find a way out. In the meantime, protect what things you do have there with renter's insurance - a lot of apartment complexes actually require you to get it, anyway.

Lesson hard learned, OP, but not the end of the world. I actually just barely avoided a similar situation once.

hmmmm

>management walks in unannounced and don't lock up when they leave

where the fuck is this legal my landlord can't step foot in the house unless I say its ok

>everyday things I can store money and jewelry in where someone wouldn't look

I can think of a million things but a good thife knows how/where to look but it would be better to know the size of said items

in all srsness but the bullet and forget about your money

>>213415
>where the fuck is this legal my landlord can't step foot in the house unless I say its ok.

probably something in the lease.

>>213391
These are pretty cheap, op. Smart way to hide smaller things that the unsuspecting eye wouldn't see

Cut your losses, man. You stand to lose more money than your first payment if you get robbed blind. Plus it will be worth the money spent to live with piece of mind. Nothing worse than living in constant worry.

Reminds me of this place a childhood friend and I moved into during college way back. Bad neighborhood, lots of crime and places got robbed all the time.

My buddy used to salvage precious metals from electronics. It involved some pretty nasty chemicals and we had to build a fume extractor that piped his little work corner out our balcony.

I was experimenting with entropy sources for RNGs and cryptography, and this wound up involving a few mild radioactives like thorite and yellowcake (in retrospect the thorite was probably a bad idea).

Everyone knew what we did, and that a lot of our equipment was valuable. Yet nobody fucked with our place because they were scared shitless of the chems (aqua regia is some nasty shit) and the fact that there was anything even remotely radioactive in the place.

>>213391
as far as hiding things,

Step 1. Think of clever places you could hide something.
Step 2. Don't put anything in those places, that's the first place thieves will look.

I'd just eat the loss and walk away.
Years ago I've been in a situation where future me could have come back and said "you will be happier if you burn 30,000$ in a pit right now than if you go through with this, because of (reasons)." And future me knows what he's talking about!

>>213423
Hide yo money, hide yo toothbrush.

For the motion detector.
If you already have a camera you can get one of those motion detector air fresheners. It would only take a little modification and the only problem i can think of is noise.

put a lock that will lock the door when its closed, slap on some alarm stickers, Ie This place is protected by ***** security. Get a cheap camera and vcr, connect the camera to the video in, and set it to 24hr record, only turn it on when you out, keep lots of tapes.

>>213391
>They don't even have to break in, management walks in unannounced and don't lock up when they leave.

That is illegal. Once you are a tenant, no one is allowed to come in unless you specifically invite them in. You are legally allowed to change the locks, fyi.

I wouldn't move in to such a place. You'd be an absolute fool to stay there regardless of how nice the actual apartment it.

>They don't even have to break in, management walks in unannounced and don't lock up when they leave.
As for this, unless the lease says they can, I'd make it clear to the landlord that you're aware of how the place is run and that you will call the cops and/or sue if they enter without permission.

If I had to live in a place like that, I would reduce the stealworthyness of my stuff and keep the money in the bank. No one is going to steal an old heavy CRT TV, for instance. I would also get an old desktop computer chassi to house the computer, with a mathing old CRT screen of course.

>>213391
Use a web cam and one of the over 9,000 free programs out there that records motion and uploaded the images to a secure ftp.

>>213557
You are not allowed to change the locks. Management needs to be able to enter if there is an emergency (broken pipe etc). They are required to give 24hr notice before entry, unless it is such an emergency.

I lives in a shitty apartment once op, it sucks but builds character and gives you an appreciation for nice places.

OP, /k/omando here. Find druggies, get evidence, and call the popo. also, the camera idea's good. I would also recomend getting a shotgun, or if your poor, a mosin, shortest legal barrel in your area, and HP ammo, although it would most likely over pentrate >>213575 OP, get a big ass CRT Tv, and hook a pc in a 90's pc case to it. HD CRT tvs are decent monitors, and no nigger would bother lifting something that's 100+ pounds

Depending upon the extent at which you're allowed to modify the interior:

Pick a room with no windows to keep your valuables in. Reinforce the door frame, replace the door with something heavier that'd take an axe/sledge to get through, and install a slightly more than modest deadbolt on that door. If you're really paranoid shell out on an abloy deadbolt but I personally think that is excessive for the cost. Most criminals don't fuck with lockpicks - they kick shit in. If you have to use a room with a window reinforce the window frame and install bars.

In regard to cameras a typical ~$60 webcam can do what you need. The motion capture can handled with software on a linux distro running on some spare machine. I haven't fooled with the Raspberry Pi but it might just fit the bill. Make a small case and hide it and the camera on a bookshelf or the sort overlooking the bulk of the room and the main entryway. Have a small script set up so that whenever motion capture begins pictures and/or video are immediately pushed to a private YouTube or photo storage account, that way if the camera/mini-pc is found/destroyed the evidence is not lost. I work for a small alarm company and I can promise you you'll be saving hundreds of dollars over shelling out on CCTV/DVR hardware.

>>213582
It's a shitty apartment; if he had new door/frame/window bars money, he'd be living elsewhere. Also, I doubt the place will let him fortify. Also, the free software I mentioned in >>213579 is for Windows, already has remote upload, and won't require any additional systems or coding knowledge.

Op, just keep in mind that a camera needs to see clear faces (test it) and is only useful if you can ID the perp. This limits it to neighbors and employees.

Just be obvious with the fact that you have nothing worth stealing. Also, looking a little crazy helps. I always cleaned/modified firearms on the breezeway outside my front door, during daylight hours, beer in hand, in the most white trash clothing I could find. Everyone saw me. No one ever bothered me either.

At a previous apartment I kept having people knock on my door because the neighbors dealt drugs and the clients would get confused and come to my place. One night I just stripped down to my boxers, picked up my 9mm, and opened the door with an agitated "What". The guy almost pissed himself and no one ever bothered me again for over 10 months. Both of those are do-able with a good replica firearm.

>>213588
yfw everyone in ops house does it and no one is actually a criminal

Student here.

I got one of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Official-UK-TENVIS-Wireless-WiFi-IR-Night-Vision-IP-CCTV-Remote-Security-C
amera-/270878611283?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item3f119f9753

for my final year at uni, - living in halls.

Was able to find a cleaner stealing my shit.
Got them fired.
Shit was so cash

http://www.freecommonlaw.us/images/HIDING.pdf
http://www.uaff.us/SecretHidingPlaces.pdf

There's another one called The Big Book of Secret Hiding Places there's a torrent of it out there probably.

1) Get insurance. Apartment insurance is dirt cheap compared to homeowner insurance, and that way if you have something expensive stolen, you can get replacements fairly easily.
2) Definitely get some sort of hidden camera setup. Fuck worrying about the damn neighbors. Unless they have the worst lease agreement in the history of mankind, the manager can't just come and go as he/she pleases. Catch him out and sue the fuck out of the company. Even if it's some health related thing, there are procedures to follow and I've a feeling that this place isn't following them.
3) Be nice to your neighbors. I'm not saying build a bromance with whoever lives around you, but be personable. Don't be the scared-shitless whiteboy who hides away in his fortress of solitude. There's little reason to not attempt to be civil and pleasant--at first. That said, don't take shit. Basically it's just the golden rule at work. If you treat people like shit, no one'll give a damn what happens to you. But, if you give and demand respect, you'll get it more often than not--and those who won't give it likely won't give it under any circumstances.
4) Don't show the world what you have. Stick that computer in a box when you move in. Just bring in some shitty CRT tv and not some stupidly large flat panel TV.

Thank everyone for your tips! Will definitely get that motion detection camera

Lock up your computers. If you have a laptop, get one of those steel security cables. If you have a desktop, find some similar way to secure it. In either case, make sure it's locked to something secure.

Yeah, anyone with bolt cutters will laugh at your pitiful security and probably smear shit on your desk where your computer used to be, but if they brought bolt cutters, then it means there was nothing you ever could have done to stop them taking your computer to begin with, because they were prepared.

What it WILL stop is some dumbfuck who walks by and sees your apartment is unlocked and decides to poke around and take anything valuable that he can just walk out with.

>>213391
>management walks in unannounced and don't lock up when they leave
Is this real life? Surely this is illegal.

>inb4 in america it's not

>>213903
oh just found that third one good sir
I put the other two in a pastebin as well
http://pastebin.com/vV2uEr3T

Dear God, 4chan is full of passive aggressive faggots now! "I'm afraid of people stealing shit from MY apartment, so I'm going to start hiding things IN MY OWN APARTMENT instead of MANING UP AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT."
>>213422
Who in their right fucking mind would sign a lease that said that?
Not sure what the law is in your state, but where I am, management has to give 48 hours notice before entering your apartment to perform any work. Contact the housing authority. Know your rights, faggot. I did, and it paid off. My old apartment complex tried to screw me out of my security deposit, so I took the pricks to court.