SELLING YOUR HOME?
How to keep your home and family safe and secure

A knowledgeable seller is the best security tool available for keeping a home and its valuables safe during the time the house is on the market. Following are some tips and advice on how to keep your home, your valuables and your family safe during the course of a listing.

• Walk with your agent through every inch of your home. Identify removable valuables (jewelry, guns, cameras, computers, video equipment, cash, etc) in sight or out of sight. Pack up those items -- even if it means leaving bare spaces on once-decorated surfaces -- and remove the boxes from the premises.
• There is great appeal for someone else's prescription drugs. Someone wanting to steal drugs will head immediately for ta medicine cabinet and will clean it out within five seconds. Take all of your drugs out of the medicine cabinet and dispose of all old and expired medicine. For the remaining medicine that is needed on a regular basis, put it someplace out of the ordinary and out of sight, such as in a crock in the kitchen cupboard or in a shoe box in the bedroom closet.
• If you have lots of large expensive items that could be removed easily, consider using motion detectors, cameras or other safety devices to help protect against theft. If you do not have an alarm system, you might consider the limited installation of temporary alarm components, such as motion sensors, that can be utilized economically for the term of the listing period, then removed.
• If your home is currently protected with an alarm system, keep the alarm system codes absolutely private. So legitimate licensees can show the property to legitimate buyers, develop an alarm code that can be changed every few days that can only be obtained from the listing agent.
• The legitimate alarm system can be of great benefit to the protection of the home, especially if the potential perpetrator knows that it exists. Make certain doors and windows are well marked warning of the alarm's existence.
• Walk with your agent around the perimeter of the home for the purpose of identifying possible entry into the home other than through the main doors. Look for basement doors that may need to be better secured. Look for broken or loose windows, or for possible entry through a garage. Install stronger and better locks and safety latches, if necessary.
• You do not have to open your door to just anyone. For your own safety, you should not let strangers inspect your property without their being qualified and accompanied by an agent. Refer any unannounced prospects (with or without an agent) to your own agent and ask them to make an appointment. Most licensees will call ahead and amke an appointment to preview or show your home. Always trust your intuition. You should feel free to deny access to your home if you are uneasy about the situation.
• Always insist on the presentation of an agent's business card when your house is shown. And call your own agent if you are even unsure about another agent.
• If possible, use a guest register and/or a survey sheet (which can be provided by your agent) to obtain as much information as possible as prospective buyers arrive and/or leave. It is advisable to gather this information whether the buyers are with another agent, come in during an open hours, or just come on their own. When possible, it is a good practice to write down the make and license number of the car.
• If your agents puts a key box on your home, you can still insist on appointments being made before a key box is used. And remember, most key boxes can be timed for your own privacy.
• Never advertise your house in such a way that it will appeal to the criminal. Never say that the house is "Vacant ... open any time." Be discreet and informative.
• There are great benefits in having called ID on your telephones. Give clear instructions to your children on how to avoid phone calls that might compromise your privacy or safety.
• The simplets suggestion of all is ... always keep your doors locked whenever your family is gone, as well as when you are at home. And remember that no one should be allowed into your home without advance notice from an agent.

THIS PAMPHLET IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. IT IS ISSUED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE BY THE UTAH DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR OBTAINING ADVICE FROM A QUALIFIED PERSON, SUCH AS YOUR REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL.
(used with SLBR permission)