An open house is a great way for you to show off your home’s best features to potential buyers. You clean, repair, declutter, and prepare your property to look its best, hoping that at least one of your visitors will be inclined to give you an offer. While it gives you a great opportunity to pitch your home, an open house also allows complete strangers to come inside and have access to your most prized possessions.
It is only natural to wonder if any of the strangers that come through your door are looking to steal something. The reality is, some actually might. So here are four ways you can safeguard your home from unscrupulous people during an open house.
1) Secure Important Documents
As a homeowner who is selling your property, you probably already know that you should lock up jewelry, gadgets, branded watches, and other valuables. In addition to these, you should also store away documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, financial statements, and school documents. It’s easy to forget that you may have these papers lying around in your study, so gather them up and put them in a safe place. Just like home robbery, identity theft is very real and should be taken seriously.
2) Remove All Prescription Drugs
Since you are letting people inside your kitchens and bathrooms, you should remove all of the prescription drugs from your medicine cabinet – even those that seem harmless. Prescription drugs are the number one target of thieves, and are frequently the easiest items to take.
3) Tell Your Neighbors about the Open House
If you get along with your neighbors, they can be a great help while showing your house. Let them know about your open house and ask them to keep an eye out for anything unusual. It is much better to have several people looking after your security, than just you on your own.
4) Double Check and Lock Up
Although it’s highly unlikely that anyone will walk out of your open house with your flat screen TV or desktop, there is that possibility that they can come back for it later in the day. This is why it is extremely important for you to check your doors, windows, and other entryways. Dodgy people have been known to unlock a basement door or a window with the intention of returning to the home and stealing from it after the open house. For this reason, walk around your property after showing your house and check every window, door, and gate to make sure that these are all locked up.
With these tips in mind, you can sleep better at night knowing that your home is safe and secure after an open house.
If these precautions seem more like a hassle to you, then maybe you shouldn’t go through with your open house and sell your home to Blue Hen Homebuyers instead. If you choose Blue Hen Homebuyers, you won’t risk the security of your home by inviting strangers to come over – all you need to do is fill up a short web form and we will get back to you within 48 hours. It’s really that easy!