Sellers: Don't let anyone look at your house without their Realtor and a scheduled appointment!
The ReBlog is back and this story by Rose King is perfect to demonstrate how important it is for Sellers to listen when their Realtor© explains the importance of using the systems in place for showing their home to prospective buyers. Like it or not, there are bad people out there and some target homes that are listed for sale. Most truly serious buyers will have an agent; those who do not need to be directed to the Listing Agent who will then pre-qualify them. This will assure that only qualified buyers are shown into your home. Part of the process is identifying who these people are.
Maria Morton in Kansas City 816.410.5499
Bill Bein's recent post about Nine Security Tips for Sellers reminded me of an unfortunate incident that happened at one of my listings a while back.
Last summer, one of my sellers took a day off from work to get some additional staging and clean-up done around her house. Hubby was at work and the kids were at school. A very nice looking, well-dressed lady pulled up in front of her house and rang the doorbell. The lady said that she was just driving by, picked up a flyer from the flyer box, and just couldn't wait to see inside the house. She wanted to know if she could take a quick peek right then. She said she was friends with one of the neighbors.
My seller told her that she was in the process of cleaning up a bit, and the house was a mess, and that it would be best if she came back later with her Realtor.
Now, I had told the sellers repeatedly to NEVER let someone in to look at the house unless they were with their Realtor and had an appointment. So my seller was thinking about what I told her, but the lady seemed really nice, so she finally relented and let the nice lady in for a quick tour. The lady loved the house and said she would get with her Realtor right away to come back for a better look.
The next day, my seller was back at work and their house was robbed! The thief took their big flat-screen TV, some jewelry, and a few other things. When they got home from work and discovered the robbery, they had only about an hour before their first officially scheduled showing. So they hurriedly brought a spare TV from the kids' game room into the den where the missing TV had been, called the police, filed a report, and then went next door while their house was being properly shown by a Realtor who had an appointment.
Now the robbers may or may not have had anything to do with the lady who took a quick tour of the house the day before, but it seemed possible that she could have quickly scoped out the place, made some polite conversation with the owner about why she was home that day, and returned for the loot when the owners were at work.
The funny thing about this is that my sellers NEVER TOLD ME WHAT HAPPENED...until several months later. The wife said they were embarrassed that they hadn't followed my warning about letting strangers in to look at the house, so they didn't tell me.
Needless to say, they never did that again!
So the moral of this story is....Sellers, NEVER let someone in to look at your house unless they are with their Realtor and they have a scheduled appointment!
Rose King
Texas United Brokers Realty
Serving you in Brazoria County, Pearland, Friendswood, Alvin, Manvel, Rosharon, League City, Webster, Clear Lake, South Belt, and the Houston Bay Area
Email me at rose@rosekingrealtor.com
Thanks for stopping by! Your comments are welcome!
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