A long-time employee of a south suburban home building firm likes to tell war stories about the objects that browsers pocket while touring model homes. Decorative knicknacks regularly disappear, even those that have been glued down. Zealous thieves have been known to detach doorknobs and pricey bathroom faucets.
But his favorite was the woman he witnessed exiting a model home, heading to her car. She wore a garment that vaguely resembled a sari.
“Why does that fabric look so familiar?” he asked a colleague.
“Because those are the drapes from the family room of that house,” the man replied as he reached for the phone to call police.
That’s an outrageous example, though certainly an imaginative one, of what can happen when you let strangers into the house-just like your mother warned you about. Builders’ model homes, open to the public on a daily basis, may be one thing, but what about when you, private citizen, hold an open house? Should you kiss your drapes goodbye?
Probably not. Agents say that pilferage is surprisingly rare, though several who were interviewed for this story said that it would be professionally foolhardy for any agent to broadcast such incidents. In advance of open houses, they always advise clients to stash or remove objects of value.
“I have never had anything happen and I don’t know anyone (else who has), in 10 years in real estate,” said agent Mary Sunderland of Re/Max South Suburban in Flossmoor, who advises caution, nonetheless.
Probably a bigger concern to agents is their own personal safety as they sit, alone, for a couple of hours in a house that bears a sign that urges strangers to come on in.
One suburban agent who asked that her name not be used said the prospect so unnerves her that she uses every persuasion technique in her sales arsenal to discourage her clients from favoring open houses.
Villa Park agent Mary Beth Bruce, a steadfast advocate of open houses, has written about safety concerns in a real estate trade publication. Her suggestions include avoiding certain phrases that tip off visitors that hardly anyone else has been around that day, familiarizing oneself with exit routes, never walking in front of visitors as they tour a house, even carrying a can of pepper spray . . . just in case.
A spokesman for the National Association of Realtors said that the organization doesn’t track statistics on crimes (related either to properties or to agents) that are connected with open houses. But the group does offer an informational packet to members on steps to avoid assault or other personal crimes at open houses or during showings. On Tuesday, the Chicago Association of Realtors will host a seminar on safety concerns within the profession.
A spokesman for the Chicago group agrees that theft related to open houses isn’t a significant problem. “You don’t hear too much about it,” she said.
A Chicago Police Department spokesman agreed, and said that avoiding theft amounted to using common sense. “Although common sense isn’t always that common these days, is it?”
