Open Inspections are Dangerous
Do you ever leave your front door open and allow strangers to wander through your home? Of course not. It would be madness. Anyone might come through.
This is exactly what happens when your agent holds your home open for inspection. Anyone is invited to just march up to your front door and wander through your home. They walk through your lounge room, they go into your bedrooms and they open cupboards. Total strangers intruding into the heart of your personal world. This is very dangerous.
Your local video store will not rent a $10 movie without identification, yet all over Australia, anyone can walk into any family home and agents barely notice. Agents will even tell complete strangers how alarm systems operate.
Just because your home is for sale, it doesn’t mean you have to place your safety at risk. It is your home. You have a right to know who enters it.
When selling, the only people who should inspect your home are people who are likely to buy it. You want buyers, not burglars. And the only way to know if a person is a buyer or a burglar is to identify them before they enter your home. It is very hard to do this with a sign on the street saying “Open For Inspection”.
Do not underestimate how serious this is. Neighbourhood Watch advise, “When your home is open for inspection, your valuables, are also open for inspection.”
Ask at your local Police Station or ask your insurance company. They know the dangers, that is why your home is usually not insured when open for inspection.