CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Police in the Ballantyne area are seeing a new trend in home break-ins.

It starts with thieves breaking into your car and among the things they steal is your garage door opener and your home address off your car registration. Then, police said, they head right to your home.

Three cars and homes have been hit in just two days.

On March 19, police said, thieves broke into a car at a shopping center on Ardrey Kell and Providence roads. They took the garage door opener and registration then broke into the owner's Weddington home.

The same thing happened again that day to a man parked at the Ballantyne Shopping Center.

Just a day later, Detective Steve Simono said, thieves broken into a third victim's car at a Ballantyne office complex. Then the thieves went straight to his Ballantyne home.

"It's a double hit. Your vehicle is broken into, and that's bad enough. Then you get home and realize that's not the end of the story," Simono said.

The three cars involved were all parked in public places and all three homes were broken into right after. It has police asking everyone to consider their garage door opener as a key that should not be left sitting out in the open.