Would somebody please explain what targeting a house even means? Like why didn’t the perp just set fire to it?
If these murders were driven by rage (which IMO is practically undeniable), is the killer enraged by the house or the people in it?
We've discussed this several times, so I'll be brief.
EARONS (Joseph De Angelo) stalked neighborhoods, looking for houses that met certain criteria. There is no evidence he knew any of his victims. He wanted single story houses with a certain type of configuration. He may have made maps of escape routes from various areas, preferring houses that abutted utility easements or open space. Or, houses that had no house across the street. IOW, he didn't want to get caught. His victims were mostly adults, but of both sexes.
THe Nightstalker chose houses that had a certain kind of window that opened easily, mostly single family dwellings (with 1-2 exceptions). He moved around Los Angeles rather widely and may have begun his crimes by being a burglar. He stayed in the house after the death of its occupants, eating their food (EARONS sometimes did this too). Middle class neighborhoods were preferred by Nightstalker.
Manson chose houses according to both mystical means and his own lived experience (which houses he knew). The same people were not living in the Tate house when it was attacked (I believe he had been there before).
I could go on. Some killers are opportunistic, starting out with other, lesser crimes, getting proficient at that, then going over the line into murder. They study neighborhoods. My neighbor across the street has been robbed 6 times, 4 of those times they were on vacation and someone cleared watched our neighborhood to realize that. When their RV was gone from the front yard for a couple of days, it was likely they weren't coming back for a few weeks. So I think their perp was local to our neighborhood. Also in my own neighborhood, there have been recent break-ins to houses and cars, but no houses with cameras were targeted. Entry is made through the back of the house (no ring cameras) but some people have cameras along the perimeter of their house (we do) and those houses are avoided. So, houses without cameras are being targeted (as well as cars in driveways without cameras).
Etc etc