Whether you’re selling your house on your own or you’re using a real estate agent, safety cannot be taken for granted. While incidents are rare, they do happen. Sellers will be opening their house to strangers. Buyers will be dealing with people that they don’t know. Both sellers and buyers can avoid potential pitfalls by taking common sense precautions. This begins by hiring an agent that considers safety an important concern in all of their business dealings.
Don’t be offended if an agent takes steps to insure their own safety. It’s not a reflection on you. In the same way that you don’t know them, they don’t know you. Criminals can appear wealthy or poor. They can be well dressed and eloquent. They can be male or female. Criminals don’t turn honest when they have kids (actually, the kids might be what drove them to a life of crime). They also have legal requirements under state and federal fair housing laws to treat everyone the same. An agent cannot make judgments about people, which would cause them to take precautions with some individuals and treat other people better. And remember, the precautions your agent takes not only make them safer, but make you safer as well.
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