“Buyers are escorted through the home by the agent or sitter. This is not only for security reasons, but also to answer questions about the home or point out certain elements that may not be obvious.
We always advise sellers to put valuable items away before their home goes on show, as petty theft is often opportunistic. Our agents will also walk through the home before opening the show day and see if there is anything obviously valuable lying around and put it away.
If the property on show is not in a guarded complex or enclave, agents will often station a security guard at the entrance to the property. If your agent has not already arranged this it is certainly something to suggest.
The guard takes names and usually registration numbers of cars as an added security measure. Quite often, a security company prevalent in the suburb will station a response vehicle at the property, which the agent also prearranges.
We are very grateful for their help because not only does it deter criminals, but also shows visitors that there is an active security force in the area they are home shopping in”.
Vining concludes that there are some very high end homeowners who prefer not to hold show houses, but this is an exception.
“Usually this is not for security reasons, but to protect their privacy, which we will of course respect. In these cases we will do viewings by invitation only.
This is why it is important to speak to and liaise with your Seeff area sales agent since not all properties go on show and you don’t want to miss out on these.”
Steve van Wyk, MD of Seeff Centurion, says many of the estates and sectional title complexes in Centurion do not allowshow houses as it poses a security risk.
He concludes that like in the case of Sandton, visitors to show days here also need to write down their name, ID and contact number before entering the home and agents always walk through the property with visitors.