Private homes are not immune to burglary and crime though. I lived in one, where some teens got onto the roofs and smashed a skylight in, with their beer bottles. It was pretty scary, and the absentee landlord didn't much care. The last house I rented was a few doors down from this recent robbery, and it always stood out to me how a good amount of the houses had IDT and other security systems. There had to be a reason and the reason was burglary. My landlord moved out and took the security system with him. And then the house went downhill because he didn't care to take care of it anymore. It's the reason I left Astoria actually. Unless you have some sort of security system in place and make sure your landlord is nice enough to install working locks on all your windows, I really don't see how private houses are immune to burglary. My landlord was cheap - even down to my door, which anyone could have kicked in.



Good landlords are incredibly hard to come by. I'm in a large building with a management company and live-in super who actually responds to and fixes problems, quickly and efficiently. I'd take that any day, over what I went through at the last private house I rented. It was awful.