Real Estate Open Houses: Lock Up Your Valuables

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Late last week, the Kennewick police arrested a man who is accused of looking for prescription medicines while attending Open Houses.

I hadn’t encountered the man, but some of my real estate colleagues had, and were relieved to have him behind bars in time for the Open House Extravaganza on Sunday.

Apparently, the guy would walk in the Open House, explain that he was looking for a house for his relatives moving from elsewhere and then tour the home. While in the bathrooms, he’d close the door and search for drugs the homeowners had in their medicine cabinets or vanity drawers.

He never went into vacant or new construction homes, only those that were owner-occupied.

Set aside the fact that almost everyone I know stores their prescription medicine in the kitchen, because they don’t install medicine cabinets in homes anymore and because it’s easier to wash it down with some water or ‘take with food’ if you’re already in the kitchen. The point is that not everyone who tours your house wants to buy your house. Sometimes they come in for decorating ideas. Sometimes it’s to reassure themselves that they bought the right floor plan. Sometimes they want to see what you did with that awkward space by the entry which isn’t big enough for a cabinet, but too large for just an umbrella stand. And sometimes, they want to steal your jewelry or your money or your oxycontin.

Bottom line – when you put your house on the market, be sure to secure your valuable items, including prescription drugs.

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About The Author
Cari McGee

My husband and I came to the Tri-Cities in 1994, and we thought it would be a temporary stop on our way to larger cities. He was a television sports anchor at the time, and we planned to go wherever the "next step up" took us. Twenty-plus years later, we're still here and we've loved every minute of it! We have two children now, and we've found the Tri-Cities area is a wonderful place to raise a family. It's a great place to do outdoorsy things -- I like to hike Badger Mountain or run along the river path. I also love reading ... by a cozy fire in the winter or a beautiful picture window in the summer (with the A/C on!). I've been a licensed Realtor since 2004. I earned my managing broker's license in 2016, which means I can run my own brokerage, or create a team of real estate agents and supervise them, which is exactly what I did when I formed the Cari McGee Real Estate Team in 2018! We have administrative and marketing personnel, as well as additional agents to serve you. I became a director of the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016, became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, and was elected to Vice President in 2019. Want to talk about real estate? Click here to schedule a meeting with me!

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