This is an important post to sellers and showing their homes. Sellers are very accomodating when it comes to showing their homes and are expected to 'disappear' for a showing without much notice BUT .... never let in a stranger that has just come up to your door to show your home!
This post gives the security we provide you when an agent makes an appointment to show your home. Now with the new technology, we always know who is in your home with the new computerized lock boxes!
Please don't take any chances. Call your listing agent (maybe me?) to schedule all showings. Better safe than sorry!
The other day a seller client told me that she showed her home to strangers off the street who knocked on her door and expressed interest in seeing the place without an appointment. She accommodated them. We don't know who they are, or even if they were qualified to buy. She just hoped they might be the ones. I told her to never do this again. Call me a suspicious New Yorker, but the risks outweigh the opportunity when you show you home to strangers with no appointment.
Prior to scheduling a showing, we verify the credentials of showing agents, their contact information, and their licensure. Nobody gets an appointment without verification. If it is our own buyer, we verify their identity, their financial qualifications, and their identity. Otherwise, I might as well have a hitchhiker in my car. To not take these measures I expose my firm to severe liability and clients to undue risk.
What can go wrong by letting strangers into your home without a proper appointment? Plenty.
- Theft
- Violence
- Vandalism
- "Staking the place out" for future theft
- Identity theft
That last point is a new one, but once someone can get a bill or some other personal item off your kitchen table you have the seeds of a far bigger problem than a stolen necklace.People who can't set up an appointment and insist on dealing directly with the owner of a listed property may not have a screw lose, but they are trying to pursue a fallacious angle, namely that bypassing the agent gives them an advantage. The bottom line is that while they may not hit you over the head, they are almost certainly wasting your time.
J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester Putnam MLS. Read my short sale blog here. J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.Subscribe to the 40 Somethings Group. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
All content/images, unless noted, are the property of J. Philip Faranda & may not be used without permission
Lyn, this is a very good point and definitely a must for the sellers safety. Thanks for reblogging.
Lyn, while incidents like this are fairly uncommon, it always better to be safe. There was a gentleman here that was beaten and robbed when he went to someone's home to view a car for sale on craigs list. When he went to the home (which was vacant and there was no car) he was robbed.
Betty & John: Better safe than sorry like you said.
Mike: Great post for sellers advice.