Recently I was hosting an Open House at a high end condo and noticed a very strange looking individual, he was dressed in a white linen suit and was wearing a Red Sox Baseball cap and wearing sunglasses, even while inside. He was of medium hieght and a slightly stocky build. He signed in on the register but it was illegible. He moved quickly through the house and then left without saying much to me. It was a busy Open House so I didn’t think much of it until later when I spoke with the Realtor holding an Open House just down the street from me. She told me he has been to 3 of her Open Houses in the last month and that the price ranges were from 250-800K. This is definitely not someone looking to buy a home.
A few weeks later at my office meeting another Realtor brought up the same man, white suit, baseball cap, lurking around her Open Houses again in different price ranges.
Here’s what we believe, there are people going to Open Houses in search of prescription drugs, or any personal information they can get. Credit cards, unopened mail, social security, even valuables.
If you are selling your home, always remove all valuables and prescription drugs for an open house. It’s not as important for regular showings as the Realtor will always be with the buyer, but for an open house, if there are more than 2 people in the house at the same time the Realtor may not be able to keep tabs on everyone.
If you are a Realtor, advise your sellers to take caution. And ALWAYS have your cell phone with you and make sure people know where you’re supposed to be and check in with someone when you leave.
Great post! I actually have a post very similar to this one (i.e. safety issues of open houses) on my blog.
There is actually another option. Don’t let anyone in the house… It sounds silly when left at that, but perhaps with a bit of context:
I had considered the safety issues regarding open houses a while back. You really can’t effectively screen people prior to them showing up at your open house. So you have no idea who it is that might come, nor what their intentions are when they get there. However, if you change the way that you conduct open houses, this wouldn’t be an issue. I developed a website (not live yet, should launch in about 2 weeks) where you can conduct your open houses over the internet using a laptop, webcam, and a wireless internet connection. Basically you are conducting a live video stream, over the internet, that anyone in the world can access. People log in, ask you questions in a chat box, and you can respond to them or show them anything that they want to see using the webcam. Also, since it’s held over the internet, no crazy guys with baseball caps will be showing up to the property with you. So, not only will you be able to ensure your safety, but you also won’t have to worry about your sellers having their valuables, personal information, or prescription drugs stolen while you are showing a room to a guest.
The website will be launched under the name http://www.openhousebroadcast.com. Right now it is still on a test server, the URL of which is:
http://72.167.49.85/cake/account/index.
Feel free to check it out, and if you have any questions, you can email me at dominique@domusinnovations.com.
I also have a myspace page with lots more information about the concept: http://www.myspace.com/openhousebroadcast