How to keep your valuables safe when you open your home for inspection

This article is not about how to prepare your home for an open inspection.

We all know about the recently cut lawn, the new paintwork in and out and the old trick of the smell of freshly baked bread throughout the house.

This article is about the risk of inviting complete strangers into your home and the consequences.

There is an ongoing and endless debate about whether a property is best shown to prospective buyers through open or private inspection. Some of the factors include market exposure, owners’ privacy and security. But if you do decide to allow open inspections you need to seriously consider some important issues.

At the top of them all is that for many sellers there is a question of security.

Allowing strangers into your home invites the risk of on-the-spot theft of valuables and for potential burglars “to case the joint” and come back days or weeks later when the time is right. They will have noted the floor plan, alarm system, the doors and windows that are easy to enter through and made a list all of your valuables. Most frightening of all is that they will also gather information about you and your family and your daily habits. They will know when you are generally not at home.

If the above scenario hasn’t already started to worry you as a home seller, then think about insurance and public liability.

The fact is that most homes are not insured for theft in the case of open inspections or in some cases for public liability. A thief could steal your Picasso right off the wall, your Rolex watch and several sets of your wife’s lingerie. And to cap it all, a prospective buyer could slip on your front steps and break his leg. Ergo: the devil hides in the detail, so talk to your insurance company well before you agree with your selling agent to open your house to the public. 

If your home is in the multimillion-dollar range and is being widely marketed in the media with an open invitation to the public to inspect it please read on.

What can you do to avoid these pitfalls? You can’t blame the selling agent. You agreed to open your house. 

Take important steps to counter risk:

• Talk to your home insurance agent and check whether you are covered for theft, damage or public liability during open inspections. If you aren’t, add the cover for the specific period.
• Remove your valuables from sight, lock them up or take them off the property. Don’t let people see or handle them. You are selling your home, not your personal items of value.
• If you have a large home with multiple levels and entries insist that your selling agent always has several members of staff at the open inspection. A single agent is simply incapable of watching every person who enters your property. The minute she turns her back someone can steal your valuables or damage your property.
• Engage a security guard who will be present inside your home to keep an eye on possible theft during the open inspection. If you are in the squillion-dollar price range engage a second guard to control who comes in and out. 

Your final decision as a seller to show your home either by open or private inspection is essentially down to the question “Which method will ensure the highest sale price at the least risk?”