371: Property Safety: When Your Listing Gets Robbed

When most people think about real estate property safety, they think about personal safety: vetting strangers before a showing, not going into a house alone, sharing your location with someone. That’s real estate property safety worth talking about, and we’ve covered it plenty of times before. But this episode is about the side of safety nobody warns you about: what happens to the actual property when nobody’s watching it, and what happens to you as the agent when something goes wrong.

Alissa is sharing the full story of the time one of her vacant listings got robbed, mid-listing, appliances and all. It’s honest, it’s a little messy, and it’s exactly the kind of thing you don’t think to plan for until it happens to you.

A Vacant House and an Alarm Code Nobody Mentioned Again

Alissa’s sellers were repeat clients relocating out of state for work. They handed off the house early, scheduling painters and cleaners while Alissa managed the process from a distance. Back in December, they sent a long text with the door code, the alarm code, and the schedule for vendors. Alissa never asked them to send it to her email. By the time the house actually listed in April, five months had passed, the alarm code was buried in an old text thread, and it was completely off her radar.

Every time she went to the house, the alarm was already off, so she never had a reason to think about it again. The sellers also had an impressive camera system watching eight angles of the property. It looked like the house was under serious surveillance.

The Saturday Phone Call No Agent Wants

The listing was active, showings were going well, and then a showing agent called on a Saturday with the news no one wants to hear: someone had kicked in the back door. The oven and range were gone. The washer and dryer were gone. The thieves tried to take the fridge too, but it wouldn’t fit through the front gate, so they left it sitting in the house, defrosting onto the wood floors.

Alissa spent the day meeting police at the property, working from her laptop in the driveway while officers dusted for fingerprints and pulled up the camera footage. That’s when the second surprise hit: the elaborate camera system hadn’t actually recorded anything in two and a half years. There was nothing to see.

From Grateful to Blaming You in a Matter of Days

Alissa coordinated repairs, priced out a new oven, and got the house cleaned and ready to relist, all while her out-of-state sellers repeatedly thanked her for handling everything. Then, once the house was ready to go back on the market, the tone shifted. The sellers said they were disappointed, that they had trusted her to have the alarm set, and that she should be the one to pay for the appliances, the door, and the cleaning.

Alissa went straight to her broker, Connie, who helped her think through what actually happened: there had been a communication gap on both sides, nobody had revisited the alarm conversation since December, and the cameras weren’t monitored the way anyone assumed. Connie helped Alissa land on a resolution: reimbursing the sellers a set amount at closing, tied directly to the deal actually closing.

You Are Not Your Seller’s Property Manager

This story brings up a bigger point: sellers, especially ones who’ve moved away, sometimes expect their agent to function like a property manager, checking the yard, watching the cameras, monitoring the alarm daily. That’s not the job you signed up for, and it’s worth saying that out loud early in the relationship, not after something goes wrong.

Since this happened, Alissa now asks specific questions at every listing appointment: is there an alarm, will you be setting it, do you want a separate code for agents, are your cameras actually recording, and are you monitoring everything from your phone? She’s also become more intentional about virtually staging vacant homes so they don’t look empty online, since an empty-looking listing photo is basically an invitation.

Here’s what we cover in this episode:

Why Realtor Safety Month usually focuses on personal safety, and why property safety deserves its own spotlight
The vacant listing, the five-month-old text with the alarm code, and how it slipped through the cracks
What happened on the Saturday a showing agent found the back door kicked in
Why the fancy home camera system hadn’t recorded anything in two and a half years
What actually got stolen (and what the thieves gave up on)
How Alissa handled calling police and coordinating repairs for out-of-state sellers
The moment the sellers went from grateful to blaming Alissa for the break-in
How broker Connie helped negotiate a resolution tied to closing
A second, unrelated alarm scare at a different listing the same week
Why you are not your seller’s property manager, and how to set that expectation early
The new questions Alissa now asks every seller about alarms, cameras, and monitoring
Why virtually staging vacant listings can be a safety move, not just a marketing one

Key Quotes & Takeaways:

“You’re not a property manager. When they hired you to sell the home, they didn’t hire you to be the lawn company or the security company.” – Katy
“I trust no one and nothing.” – Alissa
“It’s just proof that even when you have good systems, things can go wrong. It’s really about handling it professionally and learning from it.” – Katy
“I virtually stage all my vacant properties for safety. I don’t want them to appear vacant.” – Alissa
“It’s Realtor Safety Month. Be careful. Take your safety and the property safety seriously.” – Alissa

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