but by having a yard sale/garage sale or by leaving your garage open you are increasing your chances of being burglarized by some pos.
What do you put out in your garage sales or have in your garage to be seen from the street that you think would make someone choose your house to burglarize over your neighbor's?
If you have your collection of gold coins, or M16's, or rare S&W's mounted on the wall of your garage then I could understand your hesitation to open it. But if it contains your cars, yard tools, kid's toys and maybe a workbench and toolchest do you really believe that it's any different from the rest of the garages in your neighborhood?
What kind of stuff do you put out in yard sales? Every one I've ever seen has clothes, furniture, old electrical appliances, and assorted junk. Very little that would be interesting to a burglar. You think a burglar doesn't know that all the other houses have the same kind of junk in them?
If I was a burglar, I would look for the most prosporous, most well maintained, nicest houses (pools, porches, etc) in the neigborhood. They would be the ones with the most money and most pride in their other possesions and therefore would probably have the nicest stuff.