With your house on the market, naturally this means that numerous strangers will be walking through the rooms of your house, opening closets, looking in cabinets and seeing all the home has to offer.
And while an agent is present for a showing or open house, sometimes house hunters can enter a room unaccompanied, and this is why anyone selling a home should keep their valuables locked up or out of the house completely. After all, you never know who is coming to your home and what their true motives are.
Never leave jewelry or money out on your dressers and put away any collectible that could catch an unwanted eye. Sure, it might make the room look appealing if it’s full of autographed sports memorabilia, but the last thing you want is for that special memento to disappear.
Think outside of actual value as well. If your kid has a special toy, take it with you when there’s a house showing going on, as some other child could start playing with it and take it without knowing they are doing anything wrong.
The easiest way to protect your valuables is to simply get them out of the house and keep them in the home of a loved one. Or for rare and expensive items, keep them in a bank deposit box. If that’s not an option, find a place to hide them in the home or keep them with you in a suitcase and just bring it with you every time you leave.
Safety steps like these should also be considered for personal information and file cabinets that may contain papers with your account numbers and/or Social Security information. And don’t forget the medicine cabinets, as this is often an area that people steal from.
Another tip, keep doors and windows locked when leaving for any showing, and when you come home, ensure that is still the case. Sometimes, potential buyers will open windows or doors to make sure they work or to see another part of the home. Although it may seem far-fetched, there have been incidents where people unlock doors when looking at a home and go back later to steal things.
Having things stolen in this way doesn’t happen often, but it does occur, so take these small steps to protect your valuables, so you can bring them all to a new home shortly.
