When hosting an open house please remember these safety tips:
1. Upon entering a house for the first time, check all rooms and determine several “escape” routes.
2. Make sure all deadbolt locks are unlocked to facilitate a faster escape route.
3. Make sure if you were to escape by back door, that you could escape from the backyard. Frequently, high fences surround yards that contain swimming pols or hot tubs.
4. Place one of your business cards, wiht the date and time on the back, in a kitchen cupboard. Note on it if you were the first to arrive or if clients were waiting.
5. When prospects begin to arrive, jot down their car description, licese number and physical description.
6. When showing the house, always walk behind the prospect. Direct the, don’t lead them. Say, for example, “the kitchen is on your left, ” and gesture for them to go ahead of you.
7. Watch what the prospects are doing at all times. Do not become preoccupied with viewing the home.
8. Notify someone in your office, your answering service, a friend or a relative that you will be calling in every hour on the hour. And if you don’t call, they are to notify the police immediately.
9. Inform a neighbor that you will be showing the house and ask if he would keep an ear open for anything out of the ordinary.
10. Have someone from your office, a relative or friend stay with you.
