An excellent added tip for Sellers. Thanks!

Wow...This is a scary and unfortunately necessary message worth sharing.

Colleen,I recently added put away mail and any financial paperwork to my sefety list for sellers.  Placing anything in an area accessible to buyers in areas that can be opened (cabinet, drawers) does not protect it.  It is unfortunate, that it has to be this way but it is. 

That is good advice. Sellers need to hide or remove anything valuable. It is inconvenient, but necessary. Fortunately, theft is usually not a big issue.

Thanks Rich!

Yep, Natalie, it's really sad this is this what it's come down to....but it's important!

Kim, I don't actually have a list, but I think that's a great idea to actually have it in writing to hand them. Thanks for the idea!

-Colleen

Great tip!  One time my purse got stolen from the dishwashing machine at an open house I was having...Now I don't even bother taking anything inside.  It's turned into an unpredictable world.

Colleen- Yes, even when accompanied by an agent a con-artist will find a way.  Prescription medicines often disappear when someone asks to use the bathroom.  I'm finding more sellers are requesting me to be present for all showings as a result of identity and other types of theft.

Wayne, thankfully you're right. It doesn't happen very often, but just once is one time too many for me!

Colleen -Life in this business certainly has changed over the years --- pretty soon we will be installing video surveillance in our listings to monitor all showings.

Colette.....it was IN the dishwasher? I've never even thought of that LOL! Good hiding spot, but obviously not good enough...ouch!

Norma, I agree. However even if I'm there, I'm not able to keep an eye on everyone. Often the husband will want to "take one more look outside or in the garage" while the decides where her grandmother's buffet could go. This is a main reason I no longer hold public opens. I just can't watch everyone and it's a safety issue for them and for me.

-Colleen

Colleen, I rarely do public opens. Once my clients understand the risk to their home and possessions, they usually don't want me to have one. Of course, you said this occurred at a showing, which is even scarier, you have to wonder where the agent was when the thief was taking the checks. Yikes.

Thanks for raising the issue of clients putting away mail and other documents. You can't be too careful.

Colleen: I always tell sellers to hide mail, and I don't mean put it in a drawer because buyers open drawers. If given a chance to snoop through opened mail, you can bet it's done. Whoa, what have we here? A late notice from the utility company? Oh, another late notice from Macy's? Letters from lawyers that aren't opened are always a sure sign of financial problems as well, heh, heh.

Kathy, I certainly hope it doesn't come to that, although I think I was "nanny-cammed" once at a listing I showed.

Kelly, I agree on the open houses. I know it's not always physically possible to be everywhere with clients while viewing the house. I do my best, but short of saying "ok, stay together now"...LOL!

Elizabeth, gee, that would be a little obvious now wouldn't it? I love when they leave their listing paperwork right out on the table for God and everyone to see what commission the LA is charging!

-Colleen

Good advise, it will be added to our list of things to remove or locked up before showing our listed homes. I had read on another blog post about prescription medicines, but have not given private paperwork a thought. Thanks for the tip!

Mary, you're welcome! As I said, it wasn't something I had ever really thougt about either until that phone call last Summer.

-Colleen

Colleen,  Excellent advice and I certainly will add "documents" to my seller checklist - it is a shame nothing is safe even in your "castle",  Karen

I posted a while back that I had stopped putting any signed disclosures in my listing packets.  With identity theft being such a large issue the combination of a bill or checks left out and a signature could lead to disaster.  One unsolicited credit card application and a signature equals disaster!

Colleen,

It always amazes me how many sellers will leave bank statements, pay check stubs, tax records and charge account info just lying on a counter.  They will put their meds away, they will hide their jewelry, even camouflage a mink coat, but they leave their information everywhere.

Recently I showed a house where the seller was in the process of packing.  Things were a bit messy, as expected, but right in the middle of the dining room table was the birth certificates, social security cards and passports of the entire family.  I was absolutely stunned.  Who in the world would just leave this info laying around?!

Great reminder - thanks for the post.