REAL ESTATE AGENTS SAFETY

We care about our Clovis Real Estate Agents safety. That is why we get out of our way to find tips to keep you safe while doing your job helping our community grow.

Professional Real Estate Agents

Real estate agents are the lifeblood of any thriving community. They enjoy working with citizens and have until no so long ago felt safe while practicing their professions. However, in recent years things have drastically changed for professionals. A dramatic increased number of agents have been raped, robbed and murdered while showing homes and other real estate investments nationwide. Some Real Estate firms have responded to the violence by implementing extra self defense training and designing procedures to help keep agents safe. As a professional Real Estate Agent we are independent professionals and legally, the company we hire to provide the services we need to conduct our daily business is not responsible for our safety. Typically, a Real Estate Brokerage without agents would have no business or will need to become a one or two agent operation.  By providing services such as secretarial staff, computers, copy machines, desk space, advertising, signs and other necessary services aimed to cater to the professional Real Estate agent usually for a per transaction fee begins a symbiotic relationship between agents and a Real Estate firm. If the office you hire to provide these services has developed agent safety protocol policies, it is a good idea to pay attention to them. If it hasn't, you are reading the right staff from us to help minimize your risks of an unexpected attack while busy doing what you love to do.

Take Preventive Actions Such As Verifying Customer Information

These are only common sense and a must for agents. Ask your prospect client for a work and cell phone numbers as well as a physical address to be contacted in case “something changes unexpectedly before the appointment” Verify the information by calling the prospect client at one or more of those numbers to confirm the appointment. At the same time, make a log in your office desk calendar of where you are expected to go while showing these customer properties. Your office staff can be ask to call you on your cell phone to check on you from time to time and verify your safety.  If you are not able to do that, call your local information number to see if the person is listed on your city’s telephone book and search the customer's home phone number or name, city and state in the Internet to find a match. Most business people have information already about them in the Internet.

While prospecting for new clients agents tend to forget safety all together all to often.  Never meet unknown prospects at a vacant property. It is a very good practice to invite the customer to come to your office and review your itinerary with him/her. Make sure you establish a procedure to write down their license plate number, photo copy their driver license, notice if possible the type and color of the vehicle they are driving and whatever other identifying information you can think of. Then keep give that file to someone in your office with the itinerary of properties you plan to show.  During business hours check in as often as possible by cell phone with the secretary or receptionist. After hours, ask a colleague at the office to call you occasionally and check with you.  It is not a bad idea to have already pre-established “code answers to questions”  if you are under distress. A good answer to a pre-establish question I like to use is;  Question: “Is Everything OK?” Answer under duress:  The appointment is doing fine.  Answer without danger:  I will be at the office shortly.  In any case, it is a very good idea to always work with someone in your office that is able to take action and call the police in case you are in trouble.

Many agents like to drive prospects on their personal vehicles while showing properties. I prefer the customer to follow me in their car or to meet me at the property. Especially if you have not meet this person before. Also, you will save much in insurance premiums if you do not drive clients and prospects around in your vehicle. Always ware your seat belt. If your passenger dos not do not impose it.  If the situation gets dangerous for you drive to a busy area, hit the brakes and get out of the car immediately asking for help. That quick thinking action may give you enough time to run away by temporally distracting the attacker. I hear of some agents creating a fender bender with another car just to have the chance to get out of the car and contact the other driver for assistance.  Other more brave ones may accelerate and crash the vehicle against a fix standing object and run away during the distraction. All of this and more safety tips can be found through your local police department and your National Association of Realtors. However, no safety tip is useful when common sense is absent from the equation.

Your Normal Work Habits Can Save You

1. Program 911 in your cell phone and carry it in your pocket, not your purse.
2. In our city of Clovis, open house street directional signs are not legal any longer making it more difficult for the public to find your open house. Try not to have a public open house alone. Have a partner or an affiliate with you if you must hold an open house.
3. Always pay attention to all of the exits in a house as you walk through it.
4. Some people recommend to carry pepper spray for self defense. In my opinion, most agents are not in the habit of pointing and using pepper spray against anyone. If you hesitate on using it, the perpetrator may take it away from you and use it against you. If you are not ready to use it don’t carry it.
5. In our area, many agents have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Just as with the pepper spray, if you are not ready to use the weapon don’t take it out. But if you are, don’t hesitate.
6. Always let your customer walk around the house alone. Do not follow him or her. Stay by the entrance door and pretend to be making a call or reviewing some documents. There will be less chances for you to be ambushed if you are at the front door than in the back bedroom or basement.
7. Avoid showing vacant properties alone, especially after dark.

We all have a sort of a subconscious six-sense ability. Pay attention to it when it tells you that something does not sound or feel right.  Don’t hesitate to ask someone in your office to accompany you if you sense something is not right.  It does not matter if the customer is a single male of any age or a women with a small child. There have been cases of Agents robed, rape and even murder by men and women perpetrators alike. In our office we have established safety procedures, however people cannot be forced to take advantage of them. Therefore, as usual, the ultimate responsibility stays with the individual agent.

Contact us directly for more tips in this subject or any other subject of interest. We are here to assist you.

The Editor
www.ClovisRealEstateAgents.com

Copyright
This information has been compiled from diverse public and private sources and is aimed to assist and inform Real Estate Agents in safety issues. The materials are provided for non-commercial and informational purposes.  www.ClovisRealEstateAgents.com  is not part of any law enforcement agency.  The opinions expressed herein are only agent related opinions and may not be fit to be followed by every reader. If you have any questions regarding these or other safety issues or a particular personal situation, contact your local police department for advice on how to proceed.