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The real estate industry shares a lot with real estate agents about security, but what about security for sellers? There is certainly not enough advice, and the industry as a whole should take a step in the right direction and share some safety tips with customers.
As a real estate agent, taking some time to talk to your sellers about security can not only help ensure that nothing bad happens, but at the same time you can improve the reputation of the industry in the your whole
Talk to a seller about their valuables
Open houses and showings are common for sellers, but you need to make sure you remind them that even though you can be there, you can’t see every potential buyer all the time. You should remind your sellers that it’s in their best interest to keep valuables safe, and that you can do your part by checking IDs and asking visitors to sign in.
Remove any medication
Many vendors will remember to put away their iPads or lock up their jewelry before an open house or trade show, but what about their medications? There is nothing stopping anyone from opening a medicine cabinet and taking out prescription drugs.
You probably don’t want to put yourself at risk by confronting a potential buyer who might have taken something, so it’s best to tell vendors to bring their medication with them to a showing or open house.
Place the knife blocks
One thing that can help you stay safer at an open house or trade show is to ask your vendors to put away their knife blocks. Most of the time there are amazing pictures of the inside of a house, so someone who wants to steal the place can really determine where things are if they show up at an exhibition.
A real estate agent may be no match for a thief looking to take the seller’s new 4K TV, and it could be even worse if the thief can get hold of a knife.
Remove photos of children
Many sellers still live in the home, which means they may still have family photos. If there are photos of children, it is in everyone’s best interest to ask the seller to remove them. You never know who might see them, and it could be putting the seller’s children at risk.
Advise sellers not to offer tours on their own
If your seller’s home is listed, you’re basically giving people an open invitation to look at it. Some burglars take advantage of this and show up at the house, knock on the door and tell a story about how they are looking for a new home, they just love the place and wonder if they could take a quick look inside.
This, of course, could be a disaster. Advise your salespeople that if this happens, they should refuse to let anyone in and tell the person to call you. However, it is likely that it is simply something innocent that the person is really interested in the home. Who knows.
Make sure they know about Craigslist scams
With so many scams out there, you should talk to your sellers about Craigslist or other scams that may affect sellers or people interested in renting their property.
Check all locks after an open house or exhibition
You also want to talk to your sellers to make sure they check all the locks after a showing or open house. This includes window locks. Sometimes people break into homes, open a window or door without anyone knowing, and then come back later to break in.
Protect sellers
One of the first things you can do to protect your sellers, and therefore yourself, is to talk to all sellers about who they allow into their home.
Don’t allow random, unverified people in, and if there’s a situation like an open house or exhibition, make sure you see the person’s ID. If they don’t want to show identification, they don’t have to show the house.
You should also try to make this a personal practice for yourself when dealing with sellers. Another suggestion is to talk to your broker or share this information with others in your industry. If you’re feeling really ambitious, work with others to create a runner safety policy.
Recognize that all security is personal
There is a lot of security awareness training that teaches the above. But what else Real estate security training Masses is how to change the behavior of agents so that they actually want to take action and make changes in the way they do business to keep themselves and their customers safe.
If officers ask themselves, “What would I really do if confronted?” and think about what response they would have, if any, they would begin to understand how unprepared they and, by default, their customers are.
Safety starts with yourself. All officers must consider their individual concerns and concerns regarding their personal safety. From there, they will begin to recognize risk in a much more holistic way, naturally evolving into better personal and customer protection.
Author Robert Siciliano is CEO of Credit Parent, head of training and security awareness expert at Protect Now, a #1 Amazon author, media personality, and architect of the CSI Protection Certification, a cyber designation , social, identity and personal protection for real estate agents and their brokers. Follow Robert Siciliano Twitter.
