Who was taking hasty pictures of my neighbor’s front yard?

[Anonymous]

I WFH and just happened to look outside on my way from the kitchen back upstairs to my office when I noticed a beat up crossover-type car with a twin-sized mattress crammed INTO the backseat of the car parked at the curb. The driver quickly got out, then even more hurriedly paced the perimeter of the property along the road and snapped a few pictures with his phone before hopping back into the car and taking off.

We’ve lived here 20 years and they were here about a decade before us, so it wouldn’t be a comp for real estate or anything like that.

It all happened in less than 20 seconds, he walked FAST as he took the pictures, or he was recording, so I doubt it was a contractor taking pictures for measurements or something like that.

Any ideas? I don’t want to be “that person” but I’m wondering if it could be something shady and I should let my neighbor know what I saw?

[Anonymous]

Eh. I've taken some pics of some properties in my neighborhood, to get gardening ideas, or decorating ideas.

He was probably in a hurry because he was going somewhere.

Or there's a sting operation in place by the FBI and your nice neighbors are actually spies.

Doesn't sound like a casing for robbery, to be honest.

By all means, tell the neighbors. It does no harm.

[Anonymous]

If you tell your neighbors what is the goal?
I’m not against telling them in theory but if you didn’t get the plate/tag there is literally nothing they can do except worry.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know about this situation, but when we were renovating our house I’d take pictures of houses with exterior paint and trim colors I really liked so that I could copy them.

[Anonymous]

Insurance person. They took a photo of my house to prove I had a metal roof.

[Anonymous]

People take pictures for ideas so no big deal but no harm in letting your neighbor know.

[Anonymous]

google maps person

[Anonymous]

IMO, the details about him doing it extremely quickly and having a mattress shoved in the back of the car make it slightly questionable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:google maps person

No, Google uses a special car with a camera on the roof and no one gets out of the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO, the details about him doing it extremely quickly and having a mattress shoved in the back of the car make it slightly questionable.

OP here. If it weren’t for the mattress, it wouldn’t have even caught my eye. I wouldn’t have even questioned it if he hadn’t been so hasty.

[Anonymous]

Who cares?

[Anonymous]

Around Halloween/Christmas time I'll be out on a run and see a yard/house decorated especially cute and want to take a picture to show my kids/husband, but I'm afraid someone will notice me and post about me like this.

But even if your neighbor's yard isn't decorated cute right now, it could just be a specific bush/tree/plant they have in their yard.

[Anonymous]

Yes, tell your neighbors. They may have video recorders. i would be concerned based on your description of this event.

Wouldn't you want your neighbor to tell you if your house was being cased ?

[Anonymous]

People bring mattresses when they’re casing houses for burglaries in case they need to jump from a high window. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Could it be that they are foreclosing on the house? I was at my neighbor's once and this happened. We had no idea why and I later came to find out that the home was in foreclosure and there was (and still is) a pic of it online.