As reported in a multitude of Newspapers and Magazines last week two women, posing as wealthy home buyers visited Open Houses in the up scale community of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey and luxury properties in Manhattan. Police reports say that they stole jewelry and other valuables in excess of $70,000. Some of the items stolen were fur coats, diamonds earrings and expensive brand hand bags like Louis Vuitton. They did catch and arrest the two women involved.
This is a very rare occurance but why take a chance. While all of these articles addressed Open Houses it really should address any showings of properties. The difference is that during a showing an agent is with the buyer but homeowners have to realize that an agent can't watch every buyer every second.
If your house is on the market or you plan to put your house on the market you need to make it theft proof. Removing all temptation. Some tips:
- Remove all jewelry from sight, don't leave a jewelry box on your dresser
- Remove all prescription drugs from the medicine cabinets and from the kitchen table/counters
- Hide Checkbooks and credit cards
- Don't leave unopened mail or bills with credit card numbers in that cute basket next to your computer
- Cameras, ipods, cell phones and small items easily placed in a pocket, hide them
- Go room to room
Comments(0)