How to protect your family and valuables during home tours.

One concern homeowners have is safety while allowing their homes to be shown to potential buyers. Protecting family and belongings while selling a home can be scary. It is only possible to sell your house by allowing strangers to tour your home. Getting buyers through your door is the whole aim of marketing. Having strangers tour your home while you are not there can be scary. However, there are things you can do to protect your family and valuables when selling your home.

When you list your house, your listing agent will leave a Bluetooth lockbox with you. This lockbox can only be accessed by a Realtor who is a member of the local Board of Realtors. It’s accessed through an app on our phones that requires a subscription. Some agents hang the boxes from the front door, but I do not recommend that for a couple of reasons. First, the lockbox almost always damages the door as it swings. Second, the seller cannot remove the lockbox when they do not want to be disturbed. So, I like to leave it next to the front door.

Most Tallahassee Realtors are conscientious. They lock all the doors and ensure their customers are not left alone in the house.  Most Realtors do not show properties to buyers they do not know and haven’t preapproved. However, they are human, and mistakes can happen.  Here are some things you can do to protect your family and valuables during home tours.

1. Require appointments for all home tours.

Sometimes someone will knock on the door of a house for sale. Do not let anyone inside. Ask them to contact your listing agent or their buyers’ agent. They may be over-eager buyers, or they may be looking for an easy theft. Do not take the chance.

I once heard a story from a Tallahassee police officer that haunts me. There was a time when a traveling band of thieves would canvas the Killearn area looking for homeowners, mostly women, working in the garden. A woman would approach the homeowner, compliment the gardens and house, and keep the homeowner busy in a conversation. The other thieves would go through the unlocked door and head for the master bedroom. They would take select jewelry and other portable wealth, which would not be easily missed. Since they only take some of it, and it would sometimes take months before the theft was even noticed. So, tell everyone to make an appointment and come back with their Realtor. It is not worth the risk.

Besides that, we can’t tell how our marketing is working if they do not use the system we put in place to track such things.

2. Make sure all doors and windows lock properly.

This seems obvious, but you would be surprised at the number of times we have had to call the listing agent because we could not get a door to lock (or unlock).

We showed a house this week in the Indian Head area. When we arrived, it was early in the morning, and we could tell from the driveway that the door was standing open. Fortunately, the house was vacant, and nothing was disturbed. The appliances were still there, and everything was in undamaged shape. Mistakes happen, but if the doors are hard to lock, consider changing them out or offering new locks as a bonus to potential buyers.

3. Depersonalize and secure confidential information before listing and showings.

Remove family pictures and private documents. This includes all bills and correspondence. Remove all birthday reminders and anything that could potentially have a birthdate or social security number or be used as identification – like badges or old IDs.  Password-protect your computer and any electronics. Store your private documents in locked cabinets. Identity theft has been a reported problem in other places. I have not heard of it being a problem in Tallahassee.

Make a plan for:

• Guns and rifles.
• Prescriptions and medications.
• Extra house and car keys.
• Jewelry and other portable wealth.
• Clear your desk and lock the drawer.

Storytime:

When working for the Department of Corrections, we were always warned about leaving personal information where inmates could see it. We saw this in person when one young inmate made friends with several administrative assistants. He would ask them about their pictures and personal items, making friends with them over time. Eventually, one of the young women agreed to break the law and mail an envelope for him. That is an extreme case, but it is a reminder that criminals always seek an opportunity.

Besides, buyers can see themselves in depersonalized homes better anyway.

4. What to consider about security cameras and home tours.

Under Florida law, you cannot record someone without their permission. That does not mean you are not allowed to eavesdrop on the conversation. This is something most buyers’ agents warn against. From experience, it is easy to forget. We were showing a house in Waverly and standing outside of the home near the pool. The buyers were discussing the repairs needed and pointed out the wood rot along the back of the house among other things. Before we even left the patio, the listing agent called to tell me that the sellers were willing to do the wood rot, but nothing else the buyers had mentioned. Let me tell you, knowing she was listening to the conversation was a kick in the gut. I had wrongly assumed they wouldn’t be able to hear us by the pool. Lesson learned the hard way.

If you are considering selling your home, we would love to hear from you. You can find my contact information here.

If you are considering selling your home, we would love to hear from you. You can find my contact information here.

If you are considering moving to or within the north Florida area, we would love to be your Tallahassee real estate agents!

Abbe Flynn, MS

Ketcham Realty Group

850-203-0209 or [email protected]