Security Gaps While Selling Your Sacramento Home

The occupant of one of my listings leaves her front door unlocked when agents come over to show. She vacates and doesn’t lock the door because she doesn’t want a lockbox on the house. This procedure is not only unsafe, but it completely baffles the agents who show. The buyer’s agents can’t believe a person would not lock the door.

Because she won’t allow a SUPRA, I have installed a contractor’s box and suggested she put the key inside when she leaves, and then she could lock the house and retrieve the key when she gets home. She refuses. Her thoughts are it is perfectly OK to leave her door unlocked, and she lives in a safe neighborhood. All neighborhoods are safe until security gaps pop up.

Criminy, when it comes to security gaps, there are no safe neighborhoods in Sacramento. Every person is vulnerable no matter where you live. She won’t listen to me, and her actions make me uneasy, like they would cause any Sacramento listing agent to fret.

Then, this weekend, an agent called to say she dropped the key to the home she was showing somewhere in the kitchen and she could not find it. It might have rolled under the ‘frig. If I wasn’t avoiding any strains on my back, I would have dashed over to help her move the refrigerator. This sort of thing could have happened to any buyer’s agent. Although usually they break the key in the door or slip it into their pocket and take it home; they don’t generally lose it somewhere in the house.

I tried to call the seller but my message went to voice mail. The buyer’s agent couldn’t reach the seller, either, which is why she called me. I sent the seller an email and attempted to contact the co-owner as well. Nobody should leave a door unlocked anywhere.

Fortunately, the seller came home and was able to put a new key into the bottom of the lockbox. Then, later yesterday afternoon, another twist happened at her home. A group of strangers showed up on her doorstep holding a business card from a real estate agent. The real estate agent was not with them, they were unaccompanied and alone. The seller let them into her home! Give me a heart attack, why doncha? Never let a stranger into your home without an agent present. Talk about security gaps. Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor. I swear, my sellers are gonna kill me yet.