How to Help Clients Prepare for Open House | REALTOR® Safety

Looking towards REALTOR® Safety Month in September, we sat down with Carl Carter Jr. of the Beverly Carter Foundation to discuss real estate safety tips. This week, we’re focusing on preparing your clients for an open house.

Discussing Safety with Sellers

While cleaning and organizing their space might be one of the first things clients think of when preparing for an open house, safety shouldn’t be overlooked as an important first step of the process. When it comes to open house safety, there are several things you can have them prepare as they get their home ready to show to prospective buyers:

• Have clients secure their valuables. This can include electronics, jewelry, or anything they would be disappointed if it were to come up missing.
• Have your client put away their prescription drugs. It’s not enough for them to be in the cabinet in the bathroom.
• It’s important to talk to your sellers about identity theft. Have them put away bills or credit card statements or any other documentation that could have personally identifiable information on it that could be used by a perpetrator for identity theft.
• Clients should put away social calendars that could be a cue for times that they’ll be away from home such as a soccer practice or a vacation.
• Always a best practice to put away anything identifiable for children that live in the home. Have them put away photos wherever possible and anything that could identify who they are or where they go to school.

There are many ways to approach an open house and real estate safety. For other real estate agent and REALTOR® safety tips, check out these links:

• Real Estate Agent Safety Home Page
• Safety Education and Training Videos for Real Estate Professionals
• Downloadable Safety Resources for Real Estate Professionals
• Read about the Beverly Carter story, and how her memory and tragic story spurred change in industry safety practices for real estate agents and REALTORS®.
• Learn more about Stewart and how we partner with real estate professionals here