The valley is full of homes for sale, and half the battle these days is figuring out how to get buyers to visit your house rather than the home down the block.

Just make certain you keep an eye on your valuables while potential buyers walk through your home.

Dolores and Elmer Johnson were happy when a cleancut fellow stopped his white pickup truck in front of their home in Artesia about 10 a.m. one morning last month. He took a sale flyer from the box on their for sale sign, then rang their bell and politely asked to see the inside.

The Johnsons took the man through their courtyard and into the backyard to show him the fruit trees as well as the interior.

"He liked the house," said Dolores Johnson. "We walked back into the kitchen area, which is next to the dining room where I had left my purse on the table. Normally, I would never leave my purse out if we were showing the house, but this was just a spur of the moment thing."

She had clothes in the dryer and when the timer went off, she went to tend to the laundry while her husband stayed with the man, who asked if there was a floor plan of the home available.

"Elmer went into the back room to get a floor plan and that must have been when the man took my wallet out of my purse. He talked for a few minutes longer before he left," Dolores Johnson recalled. "About 10 minutes later, I went over and got my purse and saw that the wallet was gone."

The Johnsons stopped the credit cards and no one has tried to use their bank card. They closed out their account and replaced Dolores Johnson's medical cards and drivers' license. Elmer Johnson has since beefed up the security system the couple already had in place.

They also filed a report with the Nye County Sheriff's Office, describing the man as Mexican, clean looking and well-mannered with a heavy accent. "He was a real nice guy," said Dolores.

The man said he lived in Henderson and had two children.

Whether it was a spur of the moment crime of opportunity or planned, the outcome is the same. Forty dollars was taken, as was the Johnson's peace of mind.