Security

As I walk through the front door of any of the properties I visit there is usually a well dressed real estate agent at the door to greet you. If they are not at or near the front door they may be in the lounge, and they are generally quite good at noting your name and asking for some contact details, which is generally your telephone number. Some agents use a clip board and write your name and phone number themselves. Others leave the sheet somewhere easily accessible, usually on the kitchen bench, and leave it to the punters to write their own details.

As I walk through the doors of these properties and provide this information I often think of a similar thing going on at my own place that’s for sale in Melbourne. Several things flit through my mind as this takes place.

I wonder why they are doing this. Real estate agents, generally, push the line that the services offered by agents will be superior to anyone attempting to sell their house privately, and one of the services they may cite is security. An agent may well argue, if on returning to your house you find that something has mysteriously gone missing, that by having a visitors list a degree of scrutiny is provided. Ha. I think it would be better if the agent recorded drivers licence numbers after having matched the image on the licence to the person walking through the door. A crook is unlikely to provide their real name and contact information if they go there with the intention of lifting some jewellery or other small valuables. The real reason they do it is because they have $ signs in their eyes for each person who walks in the door, and they want to keep you on a string.