It's important to play it safe when your Los Angeles home is on the market.
You will have all manner of people- real estate agents, potential buyers and looky-loos- trooping through your house during open houses and showings. While I like to assume the best about people, I also think its important to play it safe.
Here's 5 tips for safety while your home is on the market:
- Lock up or hide all prescription medications. They are usually expensive, easy to sell on the street and are a prime target for thieves.
- Lock up or hide personal papers or bills. Don't leave your social security number or account numbers in plain sight for identity thieves. Its no one's business how much you owe or how much money you have in your checking account.
- Lock up or hide jewelry, cash or collectibles. That signed baseball, silver Tiffany dinner bell, or diamond tennis bracelet are very enticing to someone with sticky fingers.
- Don't leave extra keys in plain sight. Its an open invitation to a thief to come back later and help themselves when no one is around.
- Lock up or hide any firearms or weapons you may own. Hiding them in a drawer next to the bed or in your sock drawer is not good enough. Lock them in a safe or remove them from the house.
Yes, your listing agent will take every precaution to make sure your home and possessions are safe and secure, but they can't be everywhere at once. Often theft teams will use one person to engage the real estate agent, while other members of the team case the house. Follow these tips and play it safe when your Los Angeles home is on the market.
This post is part of my ongoing series 365 Things About Los Angeles Home Staging on FaceBook. Be sure to click the like button (if you like:o))
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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year
Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.
She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.
Moving Mountains Design provides vacant home staging, occupied home staging, color consultations, corporate and executive relocations, move organization, redesign, and interior design. We also stage model homes, REOs,foreclosures and auction properties for real estate investors and asset managers.
For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.
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I think these are important tips wherever your home is located and listed. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Michelle...
These are excellent tips! I never thought about prescription meds! I will be sure to advise my sellers about this.
Have a great day!
~ Vienna
Sure thing, Laurie:o)
Thanks, Vienna. Feel free to re-blog.
Great advice Michelle...I hope some of the sellers out there see your blog and take heed. The best medicine is preventive.
Great reminders, Michelle! And an eye-opener as well! Thanks!
Great idea. I talk about it but now I will include it in to my "when your house is on the market" tips for the sellers. Thanks a lot.
It should be common sense to do no matter where you live, not just in LA. Great reminders, Michelle. May I have permission to quote you in one of my newsletters?
Good points everyone should heed. I once had a home where the son had a LARGE BB gun in his closet. I knew what it was, but Buyers and young children would not, and it was big enough to do some damage if shot properly. I had to explain in SEVERAL different ways and scenarios why they needed to have it locked up and not just "put away" by leaning it in a closet.
Great points Michelle. I have just recently stressed to my buyers the importance of password protecting their computers so that nosy people can't sniff through their personal files. Same with bills, etc that often sit out on our desks!
Thanks, John, Kathleen and Anna.
Barbara: It is common sense, but sometimes we need to be reminded.
Connie: Sometimes we are so used to things in our own life that we can't understand that someone would see those things differently. That's why you and I get to be home stagers:o))
Annie: Hmmm, hadn't thought about password protecting computers, but its a good idea.
It is important to follow all your tips, but I might just add a variation, which is to make sure everything is in locked containers or closets. There will be no temptation.