Very Worried

My landlady trusted a scumbag as her handyman. She finally got rid of him (long story) but he had lots of time to scope out her buildings and the surrounding neighborhood. He has been vandalizing and burglarizing our cul-de-sac for weeks now. He's already been arrested twice and just comes right back. I won't get into the details, but I have reason to believe he will target my vehicle next for theft/vandalism. I want to get a camera in place ASAP. I did some reading but it's gonna take me a few days at least to understand all the terminology and work out what my options are. I hate to ask other people to do my thinking for me but I want to order a camera TODAY - I left my car at work last night and got a ride home to keep it safe but obviously that is not a sustainable situation. I need an outdoor day/night camera that can see down from the second story to the parking lot and surrounding areas in front of the building. I can't spend more than $100 right now - maybe $150 if I have no choice. As far as I can tell, every decent camera in that price range requires the purchase of a separate DVR system, which I cannot afford. The cameras that can record right to an SD card seem to be in the $200-$300 range. I have an SD card. I have a spare external hard drive. I have an old tower PC I can dedicate to running the camera if necessary. I have some technical ability to DIY in order to save money. The distance between my PC and the camera mounting location is 50 feet max. What are my options?