Protecting Privacy: Selling a Home

[davsco]

yeah just pack it up in boxes. leave taped/sealed boxes there or take off property.

 

[gwchem]

If you're that worried to the point of hiding equipment, then you need to pack it up before showing the house.

If I toured a house with a locked room, or a screen that I can't look behind, then I'm making an offer which assumes a giant hole behind that door. Or no offer at all.

 

[outrider58]

Sometimes prospective buyers are not. They are casing a home or looking to steal personal items left there during the showing.

X1000!

This is why you want to stage(read sterilize) your home before putting it on the market. The closer you can turn your house into a hotel suite, the better off you are. You need to get packing anyways.

 

[bratgirllcp]

YES If it concerns you pack it up now

 

[Melnic]

We loaded up a storage unit with card board boxes and I did 10 trips to the dump in my SUV before we put it up for sale (This took about 8 days, I took off work for 2 of them If I was not at work, I was throwing things away or putting it into storage).
When they took photos, I showed the kids and they were like "who's house is that?"

My storage room was like a submarine. They could see what they needed to see w/o having to go in there very far. I blocked off half of the room so no one could get to the safes or reloading stuff.
I also had 2 cameras hidden in there.
Handguns were at my Dad's Condo. A few long guns were moved off premises.
Luckily, it was only for sale for 1 day with a total of 10 groups of people seeing it on an open house.

If I did not price it to move (we already had a contract on a place) and thought it would take longer to sell, I would have had to give up reloading for a period of time and maybe just kept a few things there.
I'll be in this situation I think in about 4-6 years from now and every time I walk into the gun room I'm thinking all the work I'll have to do when we move again and likely into a smaller place.

 

[lazarus]

Sometimes prospective buyers are not. They are casing a home or looking to steal personal items left there during the showing.

Sure it happens. Not very often though. It is relatively easy to get caught. Even if it is just casing a property to break-in later. Want to know what cops do for properties up for sale that broken-in? Yeah, the list of everyone who has seen the property is high on the list to investigate.

I am close friends with a realtor. She can think of twice in 20+ years it has happened "to her" where either a client had someone steal stuff from their house or had a client of hers accused of possibly stealing stuff.

In both cases, turns out, yup. A theft happened. And yup, it wasn't too hard for the cops to track the person down based on who saw the house when. I know she doesn't have hundreds of clients at once, but 20+ years still represents probably several thousand clients.

I wouldn't leave easy to steal, expensive things like jewelry or cash sitting out. Or unsecured firearms. Beyond that...

Your place is a lot more likely to get hit from a total rando, than from someone casing it by posing as a buyer.

 

[lazarus]

We loaded up a storage unit with card board boxes and I did 10 trips to the dump in my SUV before we put it up for sale (This took about 8 days, I took off work for 2 of them If I was not at work, I was throwing things away or putting it into storage).
When they took photos, I showed the kids and they were like "who's house is that?"

My storage room was like a submarine. They could see what they needed to see w/o having to go in there very far. I blocked off half of the room so no one could get to the safes or reloading stuff.
I also had 2 cameras hidden in there.
Handguns were at my Dad's Condo. A few long guns were moved off premises.
Luckily, it was only for sale for 1 day with a total of 10 groups of people seeing it on an open house.

If I did not price it to move (we already had a contract on a place) and thought it would take longer to sell, I would have had to give up reloading for a period of time and maybe just kept a few things there.
I'll be in this situation I think in about 4-6 years from now and every time I walk into the gun room I'm thinking all the work I'll have to do when we move again and likely into a smaller place.

Yeah, that does NOT thrill me. My current house is almost too big, but at least we are a family of 5. Once my kids finish growing up and moving out (for good. I am sure they'll move out and then back in after college/trade school for at least a bit) though, the place is going to be cavernous. 2600sq-ft rancher, with a 2850sq-ft basement....

I'd be happy as a clam in 2000sq-ft if I only had the occasional guest. Too small if my kids come home to visit, and stay, often. Especially if they have their own families they are bringing some time. But I can't rationalize holding on to a place this big in to retirement. Half the size would probably be fine.

But I'll still need to figure out what to do with a lot of my stuff. It isn't filled, but my gun and hunting room is a 11x14 storage room in my basement. I could get away with half that space (though cramped), but I'd like my own "room". My wife hates guns and doesn't really love the hunting (doesn't complain about eating it though). So not a chance it is just sitting out in some future basement or living room.

What takes up the most space is having a place to work on my guns and reload. What I'll probably do with a future property is if the house doesn't have a good setup, I'll either convert part of an outbuilding or just build a detached workshop. It doesn't need to be big. Considering I'd need some space for "utilities" even if it is just a breaker box and the wall space for a mini-split, a 10x14 building could maybe manage. I might want to make it a bit bigger like a 12x16 and call it a day. Probably leave most of the guns in my house. Just put my safe into a closet in some room. Outbuilding alarmed for sure with a secure steel entry door and I'd probably install lockable steel shutters for the windows when going away (just make them reasonably small and high enough up there would be no real way to smash one and climb through unless you are using little kids to break in.

 

[dblas]

As a realtor, I can tell you without a doubt that, sign or no sign, it is illegal for a seller to record audio of private conversations without the consent of all parties concerned. If your video equipment is capable of recording audio, even if you contend that the audio recording function is off, you're asking for trouble.

So, if we sell our house, we have to turn of our security system??

State statute please?

 

[t84a]

If you are moving you are going to pack up that gear eventually or sell it off. Why not just box it up now?

This is my opinion as well. If you price it right, it will move quickly. Most of the houses we've been looking at, the sellers are already moved out.

 

[lazarus]

So, if we sell our house, we have to turn of our security system??

State statute please?

Maryland two party consent law. https://www.rcfp.org/reporters-recording-guide/maryland/#in-person-conversations

It is usually only used when one person does something embarrassing and later finds out the other person recorded it. It covers audio, not video.

If you caught a criminal doing something bad, it isn’t like the DA can’t use it then. And unlikely the DA would charge you (they did charge Linda Tripp mind you…). On the other hand, the person caught could possibly sue you. Not sure any reasonable lawyer would take that case.

But someone not doing anything wrong? If they found out later they were audio recorded, yeah they just might make hash out of it.

Now a big old sign saying you were under audio and video monitoring would probably nullify their case. Unless they were blind or illiterate they’d have to realize they have no expectation of privacy.

Generally people on your property don’t have much expectation of privacy, which is why this is almost never a big deal for security systems. However, nanny cam that record audio CAN be a problem. Unless you tell a babysitter they are being recorded, they probably have some expectation of privacy if they were, say, calling their boyfriend on the phone while babysitting as an example.

People touring your house and having a conversation about what they might offer on the house have a pretty reasonable expectation their conversation isn’t being recorded.

So anyway, either make it obvious (including with signage) that any video and audio recording is going on inside the house when people are touring so they have no expectation of privacy.

Or don’t do it. Because it would really, really suck if you have a poorly hidden camera and a prospective buyer or agent finds it and decides to be upset about it. Because they could absolutely sue you with a decent chance of success and a DA with too much time on their hands could charge you under Maryland’s wiretapping laws (probably only if there was something illegitimate that happened. For example you had a spy camera in the bathroom to spy on people using it. Or were recording conversation of buyers to use that information in negotiations on price/conditions).

 

[Combloc]

So, if we sell our house, we have to turn of our security system??

State statute please?

Read Paragraph 10 of the marylandistan standard Exclusive Right to Sell Residential Brokerage Agreement. It has all the information you need including a link to the md.gov website jam packed with all the lawyering you want to read on the subject.

When I'm walking through a house with a prospective buyer, we're discussing a myriad of things including financing, purchasing strategy, contingencies, and plenty of other sensitive information. If I see even a hint of active surveillance equipment, I'm on the phone with the seller's agent and advising my clients to seek counsel. It's my ethical duty as a realtor and my fiduciary duty to my client. The buyer's privacy outweighs the seller's paranoia.

 

[Bullfrog]

Read Paragraph 10 of the marylandistan standard Exclusive Right to Sell Residential Brokerage Agreement. It has all the information you need including a link to the md.gov website jam packed with all the lawyering you want to read on the subject.

When I'm walking through a house with a prospective buyer, we're discussing a myriad of things including financing, purchasing strategy, contingencies, and plenty of other sensitive information. If I see even a hint of active surveillance equipment, I'm on the phone with the seller's agent and advising my clients to seek counsel. It's my ethical duty as a realtor and my fiduciary duty to my client. The buyer's privacy outweighs the seller's paranoia.

In that case, anyone touring my house would be required to sign a waiver. I'm not turning off anything.

The buyer has zero expectation of privacy in my house, and their privacy doesn't outweigh jack when they're in it.

Bathrooms excepted, so you can all crowd in there if you're that paranoid.

 

[TopTechAgent]

Read Paragraph 10 of the marylandistan standard Exclusive Right to Sell Residential Brokerage Agreement. It has all the information you need including a link to the md.gov website jam packed with all the lawyering you want to read on the subject.

When I'm walking through a house with a prospective buyer, we're discussing a myriad of things including financing, purchasing strategy, contingencies, and plenty of other sensitive information. If I see even a hint of active surveillance equipment, I'm on the phone with the seller's agent and advising my clients to seek counsel. It's my ethical duty as a realtor and my fiduciary duty to my client. The buyer's privacy outweighs the seller's paranoia.

This !

Plus as a sellers agent it’s our duty to inform the seller of the laws to protect them.

Turn off all listening devices.

Interestingly the ring cameras are dicey ! They catch people coming and going including sound.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Combloc]

In that case, anyone touring my house would be required to sign a waiver. I'm not turning off anything.

The buyer has zero expectation of privacy in my house, and their privacy doesn't outweigh jack when they're in it.

Bathrooms excepted, so you can all crowd in there if you're that paranoid.

The law says different my friend.

 

[Bullfrog]

The law says different my friend.

That's why they'll be signing a waiver, or walking on down the road.

 

[davsco]

The law says different my friend.

i don't know the law either way. but how do businesses do it, surely they have cams that record video and sound? retail exemption or something?

 

[dblas]

Read Paragraph 10 of the marylandistan standard Exclusive Right to Sell Residential Brokerage Agreement. It has all the information you need including a link to the md.gov website jam packed with all the lawyering you want to read on the subject.

When I'm walking through a house with a prospective buyer, we're discussing a myriad of things including financing, purchasing strategy, contingencies, and plenty of other sensitive information. If I see even a hint of active surveillance equipment, I'm on the phone with the seller's agent and advising my clients to seek counsel. It's my ethical duty as a realtor and my fiduciary duty to my client. The buyer's privacy outweighs the seller's paranoia.

I was referring to video recording, even though I answered your comment about audio.

And the link in the form leads to this:

§ 10-402. Recorded options as notice
A recorded instrument, recorded modification, or any amendment of a recorded instrument or recorded modification creating an option to purchase property, or any memorandum of option recorded under § 3-101(f) of this article ceases to be actual or constructive notice to any person or to put any person on inquiry as to existence or exercise of the option, if:
(1) The instrument according to its terms has expired;
(2) One year has elapsed since the time of expiration; and
(3) No grant or other instrument has been recorded showing that the option has been exercised.

I think someone needs to recheck the electronic form and links they use.

 

[Combloc]

That's why they'll be signing a waiver, or walking on down the road.

Your loss. I, and the vast majority of my colleagues I can assure you, would advise our clients to look elsewhere.

 

[Combloc]

I was referring to video recording, even though I answered your comment about audio.

And the link in the form leads to this:

§ 10-402. Recorded options as notice
A recorded instrument, recorded modification, or any amendment of a recorded instrument or recorded modification creating an option to purchase property, or any memorandum of option recorded under § 3-101(f) of this article ceases to be actual or constructive notice to any person or to put any person on inquiry as to existence or exercise of the option, if:
(1) The instrument according to its terms has expired;
(2) One year has elapsed since the time of expiration; and
(3) No grant or other instrument has been recorded showing that the option has been exercised.


I think someone needs to recheck the electronic form and links they use.

My success and bank account says otherwise.

 

[Combloc]

i don't know the law either way. but how do businesses do it, surely they have cams that record video and sound? retail exemption or something?

I'm not up on that as I don't own a brick and mortar business.