DSDUSKO SREMACLUXURY REAL ESTATEPrivate consultation ↗

Seller research

Showing privacy and security
for Alberta luxury listings.

Selling a significant home means inviting strangers into it. Good practice reduces exposure; nothing eliminates it. This protocol sets out the decisions worth making deliberately, in writing, before the first appointment.

Key takeaways

  • Decide access, identification and recording policy before marketing begins.
  • Rotate codes at the start and end of the listing, and reconcile every key.
  • Marketing media outlives the listing — redact accordingly.
  • No agent, brokerage or protocol can promise confidentiality or guarantee security.
01

Pre-listing risk review

Before any photography or marketing decision, walk the property with the specific question: what would I not want a stranger to see, learn or reach?

  • Identify rooms, safes, offices and storage that should be excluded from access and media
  • Note sightlines from public streets and neighbouring properties
  • Review who currently holds keys, codes and remote access
  • Consider whether the owner's identity is inferable from the marketing itself
02

Valuables, documents and data

Physical and informational assets should leave the showing footprint entirely rather than being hidden within it.

  • Remove or secure jewellery, watches, currency, firearms (per applicable law), art of unusual portability and collectibles
  • Remove prescriptions and medical items
  • Remove financial and legal documents, passports and mail
  • Log out and lock computers, tablets and home dashboards; clear visible screens
03

Family, staff and household privacy

The people in a home are part of its privacy profile, and they are frequently overlooked.

  • Remove personal photographs, awards, school material, calendars and correspondence from view
  • Agree how household staff are informed, and what they should and should not discuss
  • Plan where family members and pets will be during each showing window
04

Smart-home and camera disclosure

Recording during showings raises legal and ethical questions in Alberta. Discuss it with your brokerage and, where appropriate, your lawyer.

  • Inventory every camera, doorbell, intercom and voice assistant, indoors and out
  • Decide deliberately whether devices remain active, and disclose recording appropriately
  • Treat interior audio recording as a distinct and higher-sensitivity question
  • Ensure recorded footage is stored and handled responsibly
05

Alarm codes, keys and access control

Access is where control is most often lost quietly.

  • Rotate alarm and keypad codes before listing and again after it ends
  • Issue a listing-specific code where the system supports it
  • Control lockbox type, placement and authorisation
  • Reconcile every key, fob and remote at the end of the listing
06

Photography and media redaction

Marketing imagery persists far longer than the listing does.

  • Exclude safes, security equipment, server and panel locations
  • Exclude art and objects you do not wish catalogued
  • Review floor plans for detail that assists an intruder
  • Consider whether aerial media reveals access points or neighbouring privacy
  • Agree in writing where imagery may appear and for how long
07

Showing qualification and identification

Qualification choices are yours to set within the limits of brokerage policy, human-rights obligations and applicable law.

  • Decide between open access, appointment-only and pre-qualified-only showings
  • Set a written sign-in and identification policy, applied consistently to everyone
  • Decide whether proof of financial capacity is requested before access, and at what stage
  • Have your REALTOR® confirm the requesting agent's licence and brokerage
08

Scheduling, occupancy and open houses

Timing is a security control in its own right.

  • Cluster showings into defined windows rather than scattering them
  • Avoid patterns that advertise when the home is empty
  • Weigh open-house exposure against the volume of unqualified access it invites
  • Consider vacating the property during showings where practical
09

Accompaniment, logs and post-showing checks

Verification after the fact is as important as control before it.

  • Require agent accompaniment throughout
  • Maintain a showing log: date, time, agent, brokerage, attendee count
  • Walk the property after each showing — doors, windows, gates, mechanical rooms, valuables
  • Confirm the alarm was reset and the property was secured
10

Cyber hygiene and incident escalation

Decide in advance what happens when something goes wrong, because deciding in the moment goes badly.

  • Use unique passwords and multi-factor authentication on home automation and camera accounts
  • Be alert to fraudulent wire or deposit instructions; verify by phone using a known number
  • Agree who is contacted first: owner, REALTOR®, brokerage, alarm provider, police, insurer
  • Report suspected criminal activity to police, not only to your agent

Showing privacy plan

Tick what applies, add your own notes, and print or save the result to review with your REALTOR® and, where relevant, your brokerage or lawyer.

Privacy: your ticks and notes stay in this browser tab's memory only. Nothing is written to localStorage, cookies or the URL, nothing is sent to our backend, and no field value is included in analytics.

Limits of this protocol

This is general guidance for Alberta property owners, not legal advice and not a security assessment. It offers no promise of confidentiality and no guarantee that a property, its contents or its occupants will be secure. Identification, sign-in and qualification practices must comply with brokerage policy, human-rights obligations, privacy law and any other applicable law. For a specific property, consult your REALTOR®, your brokerage, a qualified security professional and, where relevant, a lawyer.