Sorry. This got fuckin' long, dude.
I can definitely sympathize with you. A couple years ago, I lived in a fairly high end apartment (only because it was the only place near the corporate campus and because I needed to arrange the place before I even left the west coast to come out here). It was a really safe place and the only crime anywhere around tended to be auto theft (and even then, that was primarily at the mall a couple miles away).
Anyway, I was the victim of a home invasion where they took everything I had that could be carried. They left my huge TVs and audio system, but they took one of my laptops, one of my 30" Apple Cinema Displays, two 360s, two PS3s, a Wii, many hundreds of games and a handful of blurays, every console accessory and peripheral, a new high end digital camera I'd just purchased, my GPS, my cell, my wallet and identification and credit cards and cash, my prescription glasses, my medical prescription, a box full of tax, work, and medical records, and a ton of other stuff. In total, it came out to be around $30,000 worth of stuff.
The police took all the serial numbers I could find and registered them with some state database that supposedly has to be checked by pawn and game shops (basically, places that would buy used stuff). Nothing ever came of that. I spent time alerting local game shops. Nothing came of that. I never got a single thing back. Worse, I felt pretty fucking unsafe. For the first time in my life. I'm a big guy. I'm a former wrestler with a lot of judo and jujitsu experience and a healthy dash of boxing. I'm pretty much not afraid of anything, including things that I probably should be afraid of. But after this, I found myself getting out of bed in the middle of the night to double check that I had actually locked my doors and windows. And then triple checking again later in the night, just in case I ms-remembered doing it the first two times. It's a pretty violating experience.
About a year later, I got the hell out of the apartment. I bought a nice house where I immediately had a security system installed. And some external video cameras. And had plenty of outdoor lighting installed (both for my benefit and that of the neighborhood). And bought a shotgun (though I hope that the most I will ever have to do is pump it and get a response - I never ever want to have to shoot another human being). And now, I feel pretty safe again. The only remaining impact from the experience is probably a healthier dose of being aware of security.
Unfortunately, I never got any of my shit back. However, my renter's insurance did pay out. It wasn't $30,000, but it was enough to really help mitigate much of the loss. Unfortunately, a lot of the things couldn't be replaced. A lot of my game collection, for example, was no longer available anywhere I looked. Some of the things could be found on eBay or places like that, but only for a crazy amount of money - and renter's insurance typically doesn't count "collections". You have to get special insurance for that. And, of course, the constant fear that all my personal information and identifying information is out there still sucks. I did everything you could in response to having that stuff taken, but you're still always on the lookout for accounts that you didn't open and things like that. Oh, and after paying out, my renter's insurance dropped me from coverage.
The only thing I have left to do is get a dog. However, I also have cats. So I need to find a dog that is small enough for a small yard and not really having to take it out for walks, but not too much of a yippy rat dog. And something that can deal with the cats (our cats are dicks) without hurting them.
Anyway, for actual useful advice. In the future, at least: Get a digital camera and take photos of everything you own. This plus whatever serial numbers you might have will be a TREMENDOUS help when you're filing an insurance claim. And expect to have the police harass you quite a bit. Especially if a lot of stuff was stolen and the burglars didn't bash your door down to get inside. I had to prove to them repeatedly that I was employed and not just conducting some scummy sort of "oh shit, I need money" fraud (I've been employed at the same company and telecommuting for almost fifteen years, now). I think dealing with cops who were almost entirely critical and not one ounce sympathetic was the part that sucked the most. At one point, I actually had to ask one of several cops to get out of my home, because after the fucking ordeal I had just been through a couple hours before, I was tired of taking his attitude. (On the other hand, a friend of mine is a pretty well known personality who was the spokesman for the Portland PD for a couple decades and he told me that I should count myself lucky that the cops even came to my place so quick and that they had several cops around the place taking a report and everything, because apparently the response would normally be to get someone around to your place some hour or day... whenever the fuck they feel like it... and be in and out right away).
And seriously, all of you living in apartments and reading this right now - get renter's insurance if you don't have it. You might even check with your leasing office to see if they work with a company. I paid $10/mo for several years for mine and in the end, they paid out over ten grand after my home invasion. I never thought I'd need it. I never thought it'd be worth having. In fact, I didn't even think about it until one of the cops said "are you insured?" and I realized that -- holy shit, yes I am! In retrospect, it was probably the smartest $10/mo I'd ever spent.
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