Safety Tips for Home Sellers and Agents From Union City's Police Chief: What We Learned

I'm a member of the Tri-Cities Marketing Council committee. We're a group of REALTORS® and real estate affiliates who meet Thursday mornings in Fremont, and most of us work in Fremont, Newark and Union City. I write many of our meeting recaps and take a lot of the pictures. On Thursday, October 15, 2026, our guest speaker was Union City Police Chief Jared Rinetti, and he talked about something every agent and every seller should think about more than we do: who walks through the front door during an open house.

This is my take on what we learned, as an agent who hosts them and as someone who helps sellers get their homes ready for strangers to walk through. The council's own recap, with the full recording, is on the Tri-Cities Marketing Council blog. Every photo in this post is mine.

The short version: six things I took from the chief

• Bring a second person when you can. A lender or someone you're training makes the afternoon safer.
• Alone at a slow open house? Lock the front door. Watch who comes up the walk before you decide whether to open it.
• Sellers, put away cash, jewelry and prescription medication. Those are what a group that spreads out through a house is looking for.
• Plan your exit before you need it. Have a polite reason ready to close early, and if a situation turns, get out and dial 911.
• A vacant listing should look watched and lived in. Signs, a camera that alerts your phone, lamps on timers, and regular drive-bys.
• Check every door after every showing. About half the time, he said, his wife finds a back or side door left unlocked.

Why a room full of agents listened closely to a police chief

Susan Munkner introduced him; he has led Union City's police department since 2018. The city's biography of him traces his career from 1998 through patrol, investigations, community policing, school resource work and SWAT, and notes that the Union City Chamber of Commerce honored him as its Government Employee of the Year twice, in 2005 and 2019.

What got the room's attention, though, was the personal connection. His wife sells real estate, so does his sister, and he called himself part of Bay East by marriage. When his wife can't line up a second person for an open house, he sits it with her himself, so his stories came from her real open houses and showings, not hypotheticals. Afterward, a line of agents waited to talk with him.

If you're the agent hosting, you're allowed to lock the front door

The point I'll carry longest is a simple one. On a quiet afternoon when you're hosting by yourself and only expect a handful of visitors, he said it's fine to leave the signs up, keep the front door locked, and stay in the room nearest the entry so you can watch the walk. Nobody is owed an open door. If someone heading toward the house doesn't sit right with you, you can simply not answer. As far as they know, you stepped into the restroom or took a call.

His other advice for agents:

• Don't go it alone. His wife usually brings a lender or someone she's training, and when neither can make it, he goes. He stressed it most for women agents.
• Watch for a group that spreads out. He described a car that pulled up while his wife was holding a home open. A man got out, wandered into the side yard, walked back to the car, and then a second man got out. She left the door locked. Down the street, an agent hosting another home let the same group through the door, and they scattered inside, some upstairs and some down. In a home where the sellers still live, he said, a group like that is hunting for cash, jewelry and prescription drugs, and it's counting on one agent being unable to follow three people. A second person changes that, because one of you can head upstairs and offer a tour.
• The door is your call. He was quick to say that selling homes isn't his field, but his sense is that serious buyers rarely depend on open houses. They work with agents and set up showings.
• Know your exit line. If visitors are roaming in a way that bothers you, tell them something has come up, a family emergency, you have to close up now, and ask them to come back another time. Then leave. If things turn bad, get out of the house first and call 911 from outside.
• Before a showing, size up the house from outside. A light on that shouldn't be is a reason to walk the exterior first. After dark you have the advantage, because you can see in more easily than anyone inside can see out. If the place looks tossed or someone is in it, phone the listing agent to ask whether anyone is expected there, and if not, call 911.

One thing I'd add from the REALTOR® side: the decision about who comes in has to rest on what people do, never on who they are. Fair housing law applies at the front door like everywhere else in this business. The chief's examples were all about behavior, like a man checking out the side yard or a group that scatters through the house, and that's the right test.

Should agents carry something? He called pepper spray a great idea. A member said she prefers a key-chain alarm that lets off an ear-splitting noise with one press. He also said he approves concealed carry permits in Union City, though he stressed that this wasn't advice to buy a firearm.

A trick from the movies. One member shared an idea from a woman they know: when a visitor makes her uneasy, a Bluetooth speaker in another room plays a man's voice reassuring her that all is well, a move borrowed from *Home Alone*. The chief's reply went back to his main rule: trust your gut, get out of the house, and call a friend or the police.

If you're selling, here's what to put away before strangers walk through

A lot of the risk he described lands on the seller's belongings. So here's the list I'll go through with sellers before an open house:

• Cash, jewelry and prescription medication, the three he named. Lock them away or take them with you. The medicine cabinet is the one people forget.
• Small, pocketable valuables, like watches, phones, tablets, laptops, spare keys and car keys.
• Mail, bills and anything with account numbers on it.
• An agreement up front that I can close early. His advice to agents was to tell sellers at the start that safety matters as much as the sale, and that if a visit feels wrong, the agent will clear the house and reschedule. In some cases, he added, showings by appointment make more sense than an open house.

If your home is vacant while it's for sale, make it look watched

The story that stuck with me was about a vacant, staged home in Fremont. His wife walked in to find the staging wrecked and someone camping in the kitchen and family room. Once it was cleaned up and reported to police, and with the sellers' permission, they got the Wi-Fi back on and set up two small cameras, one watching the entry and one near the primary bedroom, with alerts going to his phone. Surveillance signs went up on both the front and back, and whoever had been there never returned.

What he recommends for a vacant listing:

• Signs at the front and the back saying the home is under video surveillance. He'd put a small one at the entry of every open house too, with or without a camera behind it, because it makes people think twice.
• Cameras that alert your phone, if the Wi-Fi can stay on.
• Make it look lived in. Put lamps in a few rooms on smart plugs or timers, with one switching on at 8 PM, another at 5 AM.
• Drive past twice a week or so and report anything right away. The longer someone stays, he warned, the harder it gets, and a lawyer may tell you that removing them takes a formal eviction.
• Lock up behind every showing. Asked how squatters get inside, he said the cases he's seen were break-ins, through a pried window or a forced door. Then he raised what every listing agent dreads: when his wife stops by to check a home after a showing, she finds a back or side door unlocked about half the time.

One caution from me on cameras. Video is one thing; audio is another. California Penal Code section 632 makes it a crime to eavesdrop on or record a confidential conversation without the consent of everyone in it, and a buyer talking privately with their agent in your kitchen may be having exactly that kind of conversation. On any camera inside a listing, I'd switch off the microphone and any two-way audio, post the sign, and talk to an attorney before recording anything more.

Union City's district policing gives each part of the city a lieutenant to call

He opened with his own city and how it has changed since he started. If crime data matters to a decision you're making, go to the source, the Union City Police Department. As a REALTOR®, I don't describe any city or neighborhood as safe or unsafe.

What's useful for anyone who owns a home there is district policing. Union City is split into four police districts drawn to match its City Council election districts, and each one has a lieutenant serving as its district commander. The department's District Policing page has a map and each lieutenant's phone number and email. His advice: when the same problem keeps coming back near your home, reach out to that commander once instead of calling in day after day, and the district team will stay on it until it's resolved.

The phrase he chose to build the department around is on the same city page as his biography: Service from the Heart, meaning care, compassion and empathy for the people you serve. He told us it begins with how leaders treat their own people.

I'm taking six habits from his talk into my own business

• A put-away list for every seller before strangers come through: cash, jewelry, prescription medication, small electronics, keys and papers.
• A second person when I can get one. When I can't and the afternoon is slow, the front door stays locked and I sit where I can see the walk.
• The early-close conversation, up front. If something feels wrong, I'll clear the house and reschedule, and showings by appointment are always an option.
• A vacant-listing plan, with a camera that has its microphone off, a surveillance sign, lamps on timers and regular drive-bys.
• Every door checked whenever I stop by a vacant listing.
• Door decisions based on behavior, never on who someone is.

You can watch the whole talk on YouTube

Tom Bigley posted the council's recording of the meeting to the Tri-Cities Marketing Council YouTube channel. The link starts at 25:45, when Susan Munkner introduces the chief, and his talk and the questions after it take about 25 minutes.

The rest of the morning ran like a typical council Thursday

We welcomed several first-timers, among them a software developer turned new REALTOR® and an agent who used to work on film sets as a grip. Chuck Edell, closing in on 50 years in the business, encouraged everyone to serve on a Bay East committee. Sponsors had their moment, Stacy Lin of Farmers Insurance among them, and Dianna Novela of Novella Real Estate signed on as the council's newest sponsor. Sirisha Sinha of SKYE Residentials presented the single home on the Super Tour. Scott Capen invited the room to the Olive Hyde Art Guild's Holiday for the Arts, members were asked to bring canned and packaged food for the Viola Blythe Community Service Center in Newark, and the morning wrapped up with prize drawings: a tumbler, an umbrella, and the $100 Super Tour pot, which Jim Lopez won.

Thank you, Chief Rinetti

Thank you to Chief Rinetti for a morning of practical advice and for staying late to talk with agents one on one, and to Susan Munkner for introducing him. Our council meets Thursday mornings in Fremont, guests are always welcome, and the council's speaker calendar lists who's coming next. If safety is on your mind as a seller for a different reason, my earlier council post, When the Address Is the Danger, covers selling a home safely when privacy is the concern.

If you're getting ready to sell in Union City, Fremont, Newark or anywhere in the Tri-Cities, and you want an open house plan that takes your home's security as seriously as its price, call or text me at (510) 600-3425, or email homes@HarvRealtor.com. I can also put together a home value estimate so we start with the numbers, and my five things to know before selling is a good first read before you list.

Harv Balu, REALTOR®

• Cell / Text: (510) 600-3425
• Email: homes@HarvRealtor.com
• Web: HarvRealtor.com
• REALTY EXPERTS® · 41051 Mission Blvd, Fremont, CA 94539 · DRE #02195792

Disclosures

This post is general information for home sellers, buyers and real estate professionals. Nothing here is legal, security or firearms advice, and no product or service mentioned is an endorsement. Harv Balu is a REALTOR® and California real estate licensee, not an attorney or a security professional. Statements attributed to Union City Police Chief Jared Rinetti are from his presentation to the Tri-Cities Marketing Council on October 15, 2026, as he shared them. Concealed carry permits fall under California law, and the police chief or county sheriff where you live issues them. Check anything that affects you with your local police department, and talk to a California attorney about recording laws, squatters and evictions. If you ever feel in danger, get out and call 911.

Photographs by Harv Balu, taken at the meeting.

Equal Housing Opportunity. Harv Balu, CA DRE #02195792. REALTY EXPERTS® (CA DRE #00414413) is independently owned and operated. © 2026 Harv Balu, REALTY EXPERTS®.