Today I was out at a number of listings and saw something that seemed worth mentioning here. If your house is for sale, with any luck, strangers are going to be trooping through it on a regular basis. Yes, they will be accompanied by a licensed real estate agent, but it's impossible to watch every move everyone makes every second.

Today I saw a diamond ring laying on a dining room table! Anyone in this business for any length of time has heard horror stories about things going missing from homes for sale. It doesn't happen often and there's much you can do to protect yourself. First of all, get expensive jewelry out of the house if you're not wearing it. A safe deposit box is an excellent idea unless you've already got a safe in the house. Don't leave valuable items laying in plain sight where it might create a temptation. And the temptation doesn't have to be an inclination towards theft. A toddler seems something pretty and shiny and wanders off with it. Believe me, these things happen!

One of the other things to think about is prescription medication. This is especially true if you have any medication in the house that is likely to sell well on the black market, think anything in the narcotic family. Hide these in a place other than the medicine cabinet.

And it's always a good idea to start packing up now! Rent a storage unit or stick boxes in basements or garages.

Some things are an annoyance if they go missing. Other things are irreplacable. Whatever the case, you're much better off taking precautions ahead of time!

I was out showing homes this afternoon and was reminded why I tell my sellers to please leave when the house is shown!

One home had a mother and her two daughters there. The home is by appointment only. And, I'm not sure why they chose to stay.

But their remarks led us to conclude pretty quickly that this is a divorce situation. They didn't say "we have to sell because of a divorce" but gave enough verbal clues that we deduced it without much trouble. The problem with that from the seller's perspective is that we've now got information that gives us leverage in a negotiation.

Every seller I've ever spoken with who wants to stay when buyers come swears they would never give away anything that would hurt them in negotiations. But strangely enough, almost without exception, every home I show where the sellers stay they definitely give me useful information. I've even had them tell me they'll take less than asking price! Talk about hurting your negotiating strategy!

And, after you've done this a few years you develop a sixth sense for what's going on. Sometimes you can sense the desperation. Sometimes they tell you they're desperate.

Back to the home today. The two daughters were clearly giving us signs they didn't want to move. No one wants to feel like they're throwing someone out of their home! If there's even an inkling that we'd be doing them a favor by not buying the house, in this market, that sale is dead. There are just too many homes to choose from where that's not the case!

So, sellers, do yourself a favor and leave the house. Or, if you just can't do it, put some duct tape over your mouth and hide in the closet!