Showing Your Home - Be Safe

Inviting strangers into your home can be intimidating if you let it. Still, you are going to have to show your home if you want to sell it. There are no guarantees in life, but you can take steps to improve your safety when you show your house.

• Work by appointment only. Get the name and phone number of people who want to see your home and call them right back to be sure the number reaches them.
• Have someone else present when showing your home, condo, etc.  A large male person is preferable. 
• Get pepper spray and hold it unobtrusively in the curl of your hand.
• If you have a bad feeling about a prospect, cancel the showing. If you aren't sure, call the police and give them your name and address as well as the prospect's information.
• Call a friend and give them the info mentioned above.  Have them call the police if they haven´t received a second call from you within a given period of time saying that the showing went well. You can also have a "coded" way to tell them you have a problem and need them to call the police.  For example, saying,  "The showing went well, and now I´m going to the movies," could mean you want them to call the police.
• Be friendly and relaxed, but alert.  Invite the person looking at your home to go first through doors, down the basement stairs and so on.
• If something "feels" wrong, it probably is.  Make some excuse to get to a phone and call the police fast!

Remember, most people are nice and courteous.  The nut cases are extremely rare.  Just be sure you have a plan if one of them shows up.

Raynor James

Open Houses