Be aware of criminals (and kids) in open houses
I recently had a couple come into an open house even I had. This was back in March. Anyways, they were acting odd and their kids were not behaving well. One ended up knocking over a glass vase when I was in the other room so I went in the kitchen area to see what had happened and the "mother" was scolding her child while the other one and the "father" disappeared. The whole ordeal went on for 10 minutes and everyone was distracted by it. Finally the couple left with both kids and it was not until later that evening that I realized several items that belonged to the home owners (sellers) were missing. I reported it to the police.
Criminals can come in many forms but these criminals happened to use their children as a distraction. I advise a no-kids policy now on open houses and only allow 8 guests in the home at a time.
5 answers
My brother owns a hardware shop and he has had children steal from him under the guidance of their parents. Criminals will often use their kids to steal stuff or to distract while they do it.
I once had a couple use a crying baby as a distraction right in front of me to allow the husband to sneak into the bedroom of the house. Mind you, this was not an open house but a guided tour of a home a family was still living in. They just were not present while it was happening. I was able to catch him in the middle of going through the homeowner's things and reported them both.
You wouldn't think people would be looking to rob such a place but that is exactly what they want you to think. I can't say it has ever happened with me but I did have a couple who was trying to get keys to gain access to homes for others to rob them. Caught them on the first house and reported them to the police.
I was at a open house with my sister-in-law just last week. We wanted to go just to get out and since we all had to wear masks, it wasn't an issue to be in a small group of people looking at the house. It was beautiful. We weren't looking to buy it but it was newly finished so we wanted to check it out. A couple walked in without masks and started a big scene and we spotted a woman who apparently showed up with them pocketing all kinds of things around the house. The cops were called and it was handled. Never experienced anything like this!