Thieves target show houses
PARKVIEW- Show houses have now become a playground for thieves posing as potential buyers.
According to Parkview homeowner Gail Cooper, two men posing as interested buyers came to her house and stole from her while the other distracted her with questions.
Cooper cautions homeowners and agents to be more careful when hosting show houses and not allow interested home buyers to walk around the house unescorted.
Rosebank police spokesperson Bongi Mdletsh confirmed that while the police were aware of criminals targeting show houses, none had been reported to the Rosebank Police Station that he knew of.
Mdletsh explained that many times the criminals worked in pairs of two or three, and while one distracted the homeowner, the others would walk around and steal valuables from the house.
“Cooper’s case is very typical,” explained Mdletsh. According to Cooper, the men were so sneaky. “The one man even told me that he was going to fetch his wife because he loved the house so much,” she said.
“Items of interest are usually laptops, phones, jewellery and any other valuables that are on display,” explained Mdletsh.
Mdletsh urged homeowners to rather use agents if possible when showcasing and selling their homes.
“Many agents screen potential buyers and clients before allowing them entry into a show house,” said Mdletsh.
Joint area manager of Pam Golding Properties Jonathan Davies, explained that crime is unfortunately a reality in South Africa, as in other countries globally.
“It is also something that the residential property sector takes extremely seriously,” Davies said.
“Although incidents of crime are relatively rare when crime does occur on show days, it usually involves minor pilfering,” Davies explained.
“We place the greatest emphasis on the security of clients and their property, visitors to show homes, as well as on property agents. For the protection of our clients and agents, we are therefore unfortunately not able to detail the specific security measures we put in place on show days,” Davies said.
Among the items stolen from Cooper’s house was a laptop, two new bottles of perfume and an iPad.
