Email Elizabethagents and security alarms
Should You Arm the Alarm When Home Selling?
Sellers want to arm the alarm. Always. Especially when they are putting a vacant house on the market. They want security. What they don’t always consider is the fact that they are not the people coming and going. Sellers might be very comfortable with where their alarm is located and they know how to easily disarm it. But agents do not. In fact, buyer’s agents, regardless of experience and dedication, often panic when presented with a security alarm.
Many agents are nervous enough trying to impress buyers with their showing abilities and neighborhood knowledge. Agents spend time looking for the lockbox, getting it open, trying not to lose the key. Jiggling that fussy door lock, open the door and BEEP BEEP BEEP. That familiar sound. OMG, where is the alarm code? Where is the alarm panel located? Will the alarm go off? Will police come?
I just got an email from my security alarm company for our house in Hawaii, and they are offering an upgrade to their service. Apparently, many customers were complaining that 10 seconds wasn’t enough to leave the house; they preferred 30 seconds. I dunno. You open the door and go out. How hard is that? But I always arm the alarm when I leave the island. Not so much while I am there. When you can hear your neighbor across the way clear her throat, those neighbors will hear an intruder.
But when a home is for sale, if the seller elects to arm the alarm, there is a strong chance an agent will set it off. Not on purpose, mind you. Agents are not as stupid as you might think. OK, not all of them. They just tend to panic at the sight of an alarm.
Once I leapt over a gate keeping the dogs at bay and put my life and limb on the line by climbing into their territory just to search for a security alarm. I, myself, have never set off an alarm. But that doesn’t mean other agents won’t. It can cost $100 or more for a false alarm.
I distance myself from this type of occurrence with my sellers. Of course, I explain this can happen, but I also am not responsible for the ability of other agents to disarm the security system. As long as they are fine with that unintended consequence and will relieve me from liability for false alarms, then, by all means, arm that alarm.
Why Agents and Security Alarms are a Bad Combination
Many security alarms can be handled from a mobile phone.
Agents and security alarms are a bad mix. I think I am the worst when it comes to turning off alarms. If my sellers are agreeable, I generally ask them to program their alarms to be off during lockbox access hours. That’s because I know there are plenty of other agents out there like me who, regardless of good intentions, can’t seem to handle turning alarms off and on again without setting them off. It’s a deficiency I have, and I’m not sure how to solve the problem. If your listing has an alarm set and I enter, you’ve got a 50/50 chance that I’m going to set it off. I’m sorry. I can be a doofus.
True story about agents and security alarms from several years ago. The alarm wasn’t armed at this particular house when I set out to show homes in Land Park. It wasn’t on when we did the home inspection, either. But by the time I popped over to pick up the buyer’s mail, which she forwarded due to an incident involving identity theft, the security was armed. I was in caffeine withdrawal because I hadn’t yet enjoyed my lone cup of coffee for the day. Grabbed the keys from the lockbox and went inside. Beep, beep, beep. Normal sound when an alarm isn’t set. Then, without warning, EIIIIIEIIIIEIIIIEIIIE. It hurt my ears.
Dashed back to the lockbox, fumbled with the key container to find the alarm code and went back inside to turn it off. Managed to cut my finger on the lockbox somehow, so I was dripping blood and trying not to get blood on the keys or anywhere else inside the house. I hate it when this happens. Of course, I called the listing agent to apologize and to confess my culpability, yes, I am the guilty party. At least I was able to set the danged alarm before leaving. It’s always good to get the heart pumping first thing in the morning, but I wish it wasn’t due to that sort of incident involving agents and security alarms.
The agent told me about a home a few blocks away on Marian Way that had been vacant for some time and recently went into escrow. When the new buyers showed up to do their home inspection, they discovered all the copper plumbing had been ripped out. So, alarms absolutely have their place. Break-ins can happen anywhere, even in upscale neighborhoods like Land Park.
