In NY, and NJ two women were caught with stolen items that were missing from open houses that they attended. In all they made off with $73.000 in loot. These two women would go to open houses and while one of the women was engaging the agent, the other would go in search of things to take at a five finger discount. The police have recovered most of the stolen items, and the two women are being held on $30,000 bail.
This should serve as a warning to Real Estate Agents, we need to be more vigilant with our clients belongings, and we should also warn our clients to hide anything they think is valuable.
Now this may not be the same situation our liability may still come into play. An agent at our office had candles at an open house and claims to have turned them out when she left. Well, to make a long story short, one of the candles reignited or something, and burned down into a counter. While the house did not burn down, there was $25,000 of smoke damage. Now the home owners insurance company is going after the agent for the money claiming she is liable.
What if the agents in the burglarized homes are held liable for anything that is not returned? I think we as Agents need to get business insurance of some kind to protect us from the positions that we often put ourselves in. From what I hear, its not very expensive and it could save us a lot of heartache.
P.S. I don't think the whole candle thing is a big seller, besides you don't want to be put in the position as my fellow agent is in with the possibility of paying $25,000 or more. Please take your candles home after you are done. And make sure you lock all the doors and leave everything the way you found it.
Ulises Romo
;)
;)
I am glad you mentioned this. We had some trouble down here this summer. Two women were going thru the drug cabinets in open houses.