An open house is an exciting time for anyone trying to sell a house, as it may be the day that the buyer of your home first decides that he or she wishes to submit an offer. As excited as you might be leading up to the open house, you should also give some thought to protecting yourself and your possessions. Lots of people think to remove or lock up weapons, jewelry, cash, and other valuables in advance of an open house — and doing so is a smart move, considering that people who are unknown to you will be present. However, there are some other things that you might not immediately think to lock up, but you should also place these items in your safe.

Financial Paperwork

In a home office, it's common to have financial paperwork sitting on your deck. While you might think to place these statements in a desk drawer in advance of the open house, doing so doesn't offer you enough protection. An unscrupulous open house attendee might be on the search for such information, which he or she could then potentially use for the purpose of identity fraud. Remember, open house attendees don't go through a criminal background check, so you don't know who will be in your home. Keeping any financial paperwork locked up will protect yourself.

Medication

Prescription drugs are often sold and abused after being stolen from legitimate prescription holders. If you have medication inside your home, keeping it in the medicine cabinet doesn't keep it safe. An open house attendee who may have a drug problem or who may wish to sell drugs will know to look in this area, and could easily slip a bottle of medication into his or her pocket or purse before leaving your home. You should always keep medication locked up in your safe.

Lingerie

It's common for open house attendees to check in your closets. If you have lingerie or other personal items of this nature in such area, you may feel better about keeping these things locked up. Doing so will give you more of a feeling of privacy, rather than feeling as though many strangers have seen these items. If you don't have enough room in your safe to place all of these items, you may wish to fold some of them and put them at the bottom of a dresser drawer, where they're unlikely to be seen — even by someone who is snoopy.

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