Picture this: you are driving down your neighborhood street and notice someone has posted a bulletin board in front of their house. On it are pictures and names of all of the kids that live there, their school and lunch schedules, numbers and names of after-school sitters, copies of the latest credit card bill, overdue of course, and a prescription for antidepressants. Is this person asking for trouble or what?

• Put away sensitive documents to protect your privacy

• Remove personal items and photos

• Clean out drawers and cabinets that a potential Buyer might open

• Hide prescriptions, cash, and jewelry

• Rule of Thumb: If you wouldn't want something displayed publicly, put it away.

Sellers do this EVERY DAY. It makes me cringe to see the things left out when I show homes to prospective Buyers: sensitive prescriptions, divorce proceedings, estimates of net proceeds at a lower sales price than asking price, jewelry, bill collection notices, adult photos, even cash, all just in plain view.

If a Buyer can tell that you are in financial trouble, they probably think you'll accept a low offer just to get out from under the burden of debt quickly. Same goes if a Buyer thinks there is a dissolution of the relationship.

As much as I hate to say it, and while I am not allowed to discriminate against people based on religion, race, etcetera, some Buyers are influenced by their own prejudices. They may be instantly turned off by a large declaration of your religion, your politics, or any other issue that may be sensitive to others.

It's easy to safeguard your home, not only from privacy issues, but from Buyer discrimination as well.

• Remove all personal photos from the walls, desks, and refrigerator.

• Don't leave mail or sensitive documents where other people can see it.

• Buyers will open your closet doors and cabinet drawers. Don't leave sensitive items in those places, especially in drawers of items that stay with the house, like your kitchen cabinets.

• Hide your prescriptions and pill bottles. Take them off the counter, put them in a box under the sink.

• Hide all cash and jewelry. Don't put temptation in plain sight.

• Clean off the refrigerator. Often our most personal items, calendars, schedules, and phone numbers are hung here - and most people WILL stop and look.

Walk through your house with an objective eye, and ask your Realtor to do the same. If you have something out and visible that you wouldn't want widely known, or posted openly on your street, then put it away.