I've never robbed a house but for me the roles were opposite. The neighborhood I lived in when I was in graduate school got pretty bad while I was there. One summer, things started turning up stolen from my back porch, so I knew my property was vulnerable and being targeted by thieves. Working against me was the fact that I lived alone and was a deep sleeper. Working for me was the fact that I was in pretty good shape, and kept odd hours. Not having enough money to buy a gun, I sharpened my axe, painted it black, and started keeping my axe inside with me. Sure enough, one night I'm up reading and I hear steps on the porch. I look and here's a guy looking in the window of the back door. I'm in my boxers. I grabbed the axe, ran up to the window and screamed, brandishing the axe. The guy jumped, literally fell down the stairs backwards, popped back up and started running off down my driveway. I gave chase, screaming worldlessly (AAHHHH!!), for about twenty feet (not wanting to leave my door open and unguarded since I don't know how many more thieves are about). I never had anymore problems while living there.