Protect Your Belongings During an Open House

With strangers wandering through your house, take these steps to feel more comfortable during an open house.

Selling your home can cause concern about how to protect your personal privacy and possessions. When buyers walk through your home during a showing or open house, they will most likely peek into every drawer, look inside each closet and check the pantry and cabinets.

Here are a few steps to take to make you feel more confident while your home is on the market.

Protecting Your Belongings

Strangers walking through your house can be unnerving. Take a few precautions to keep your home secure.

• Lock electronics. Shut down all computers and devices before you leave. If you are not using a password to gain access to your devices, start now. Make sure that everyone in the home knows to keep them turned off or locked at all times.
• Check doors and windows. Check all of the doors and windows in your home every day, especially areas that you're not used to checking such as upstairs windows or basement doors. Buyers will open and close doors while they are looking at a home and most of the time they are not closed and locked properly afterward.

Protecting Private Information

Most home selling tips include advice about removing all personal items in the home as a way to stage the property. Another reason to do this is to protect your privacy.

• Start in the bathroom by removing all prescription medications and any items that might be embarrassing or awkward if someone were to see them.
• Next, go through the bedroom and do the same. Leave nothing behind except a bed with neutral linens, dressers with nothing but clothes inside and empty tops, and side tables that are void of all items except lamps and clocks.
• Go through the entire home and remove all family photos, diplomas, calendars with appointments, etc. This includes drawers and cabinets too. You should strive to give your home the appearance of a model home: very neutral and open to everyone.
• Do not leave personal documents out especially anything pertaining to the sale of the home. Inadvertently tipping your hand this early in the game could be disastrous! Leaving out your bills and other information could leave you vulnerable to identity theft and other crimes.

What To Do With All the Stuff?

You're following all of these home selling tips and getting stuff out of your home.  Now, what do you do with all of the stuff?

• Rent a storage unit. Pack up all of your personal items into boxes and totes and move them to a storage unit. You'll have to do this when it's time to move so you might as well get started. Leave behind only a working wardrobe, enough towels to get through a few days, and one set of neutral linens for each bed. Personal toiletries should be limited and kept in easy to stow containers and tucked under the sink or in a linen closet while not in use.
• Get a lockbox. A simple document box will be enough to keep items safe as most buyers won't make any attempt to access something that appears off-limits. Keep all of your documents, bills, valuables and unread mail in the box at all times.

Feel safe about opening your home to strangers. By following these home selling tips, you can be certain that your belongings and information are safe and secure.

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