CLAYTON (KRON)—In the East Bay, a break-in at a home for sale has homeowners and real estate agents on heightened alert.

The thieves stole several items after going into a home that had been recently fixed up and decorated, so it would be attractive to buyers.

As KRON 4’s Terisa Estacio reports, in one neighborhood, some residents are using new technology to keep a watchful eye when they are not around.

KRON 4 News has learned that the thieves stole several items out of a home here in Clayton.

The homeowners had just staged it before putting it on the market for an open house.

According to the owners, they had decided not to spend the night before an open house, but when they arrived back home, they discovered the home had been broken into.

“Oh of course, yeah. I hope that they follow-up, and explain you know who it was and what happened,” real estate agent Kahni Horton said.

Dane and Kahni Horton are real estate agents in the Clayton area.  They say they always keep a close eye  on their properties up for sale.  They say locked boxes are safe and there is actually a picture of Estacio taken from video of one of their homes for sale in Clayton.

Kahni Horton says some of their clients are now using video surveillance programs to keep watch while they are away.

“I’m not exactly sure how it works, but if you walk up to their front door, her phone will ring and have a picture of who’s outside,” Horton said. “So even if she’s not in Clayton or just in another city or away from her home, she can say ‘I can’t come to the door right now’ and it will have the appearance she’s home.”

In addition to Clayton, a resident in nearby Concord said their home on the market was recently broken into.

Horton also says they use a social media website to watch out for one another.

“Whenever we see someone that looks suspicious and also our neighbors if they see someone that looks suspicious, they report it on this site,” she said. “Depending on how closely you monitor the site you can instantly see if something is happening.”

In Clayton, the police are certainly on the alert, they were out on Wednesday checking out a call.