by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Real estate is a dangerous profession.
Realtors meet total strangers in vacant houses, are alone in a model home or open house and let strangers in on a daily basis. This is an open invitation for criminals who are just waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Being aware of your surroundings and being cautious sometimes just isn’t enough to deter an assailant from attacking.
In light of recent attacks on Realtors, many offices and associations are taking extra steps to increase the safety awareness of their Realtors.
Large companies like Prudential Network Realty hold safety seminars through their education departments.
“We are always concerned with realtor safety,” said Sherron Willson, Prudential’s education director. “We have an outside expert come in and train our associates on safety and self-defense. We make it a fun but serious experience.”
In addition, safety tips are included as part of Prudential’s new agent training program and woven into other parts of the training.
“For example, as we are training on how to show a home, we include tips on Realtor safety,” said Willson. “Things like always letting someone know where you will be and who you will be with. Phone checks and ‘help’ codes. Not allowing yourself to be cornered in a room, letting others enter first. Not parking in the driveway or where you may be blocked in. These are just a few of the items that are covered. Each office also has safety procedures. We distribute materials that were created by NAR and we have safety videos.”
According to Willson, Prudential has a warning system; if one agent has a concern they network through the management team to let other offices and agents know.
“Recently we had one ‘prankster’ who showed up at three of our offices within two days and through the networking he was stopped at the third office,” said Willson. “They already knew who he was when he came in.
“We do not believe that you can be too cautious. We are also concerned about the agents and staff in the offices and have safety devices installed which include mirrors, doors with automatic locks, and special security devices with silent alarms, in addition to our normal security system.
“Safety awareness, preparation, and planning are key for us at Prudential Network Realty. Nothing is more precious than our associates and we take safety personally.”
Watson Realty does not have any company-wide safety classes or policies. It leaves safety in the hands of the office managers.
“Individual managers are responsible for follow-up safety training once the agents leave Success School,” said Lucille Johnson, administrative manager to Bill Watson, president of Watson Realty. “Many of our offices have people sign in at the desk and leave a copy of their car tag number for reference.”
Coldwell Banker Walter Williams may have found a way to keep those criminals away.
“First of all, we preach to our people all of the time to not meet a customer at the house,” said Walter Williams Jr., president of Coldwell Banker Walter Williams Realty Inc. “We emphasize that they should meet them at the office and get them pre-qualified before they go out with them because we don’t feel that a criminal is going to let you qualify them. If they don’t meet the agent at an office, they don’t get to see the house. We also urge them to get a copy of their driver’s license before they go show them any property because we don’t feel a criminal will let you get a copy of their driver’s license. We urge them not to go show a vacant house by themselves unless they know the customer pretty thoroughly.”
Williams mentioned a latest trend in customers who call in and say that they have just inherited a bunch of money and want to see a $1 million house. He said sometimes Realtors will get dollar signs in their eyes and not pre-qualify them.
“A person who can afford to buy a $1 million house does not mind you asking qualification questions or their banker’s name so you can call and confirm that they can pay $1 million cash,” said Williams.
The rules have changed. In the past, when a Realtor would hold an open house, they usually didn’t want the homeowner present because it could deter a sale, but not anymore.
“I urge them not to have open houses by themselves,” said Williams. “We used to not like the owner to be there. Now, we would rather the owner stay there with the agent when we have open houses. I’d rather deter a sales then have one of our people injured.”
In addition to that key action, Williams also does other things to raise safety awareness.
“We do a number of things,” said Williams. “We use a safety video that NEFAR made up and safety is part of our initial training to our new agents. In our initial training classes, we spend some time on safety measures the agents should take. We emphasize in our office meetings quite frequently about how they should handle safety and what they should do.
“We also emphasize having a code word so you can call someone on your cell phone if you think there is a problem. If you are not comfortable with a situation, then just turn around and leave.”
Realtors spend a lot of time making their customers feel comfortable so they can make a sale, but this can interfere with some safety measures because they don’t want to upset the customer.
Williams said that you can blame it on your boss when you say that it is the company policy that you get a copy of their driver’s license. If the prospect is on the up and up, it shouldn’t be a problem.
“They can do all the things and be nice, but they have to take the steps needed to ensure their safety,” said Williams. “It’s also to the benefit of our sellers. We shouldn’t be carrying people in the houses that are not pre-qualified. A customer will understand this fact. If they don’t understand then we simply will not show them the house. If we lose a sale, we lose a sale. It’s not worth one of my people getting hurt or killed over a sale.”
Smaller offices often handle their safety issues in a very personal way.
“At Suncastle Properties, we all do a lot of showing for the purpose of rental, as well as for sale,” said broker Sue Ann Ogden. “We have a number of policies that we enforce in order to best ensure the safety and welfare of our people.”
Odgen said that, except in rare instances, all of their customers are requested to come to our office to meet their agent. They obtain information about the customer and include a copy of their driver’s license.
“All of our agents must let us know exactly where they are going and when they expect to be back,” said Ogden. “This information is kept in a log at the reception desk. All of our agents have Nextel cell phones with radio capability. If an agent is not back when expected, we contact that agent by phone. If there is no response, our general manager will then drive to the scheduled showing address to make sure there is not a problem.
“We do not allow showings to take place after dark under any circumstances. If an agent must show property at the end of the day and will not be returning to the office, either I or my general manager arranges to communicate with the agent at the end of the showing, just to make sure that everything is all right. Hopefully, these measures, along with common sense on the part of the agents, will help to keep everyone safe and out of harm’s way.”
Training sessions also extend to smaller offices because they are more able to have individual training sessions when the agents start at the office and as they move through their career.
“Having been in business here for 30 years, I can also relate the incidences that have occurred with local Realtors and point out what we have learned since then to avoid it happening again,” said Pam Bingemann, president of Bingemann Realty. “We keep an emergency sheet on file on each person that includes a complete description of their car and its license number in case of alert. We keep a sign-out log that each agent signs when they leave that says where they are and their ‘be back’ time.
“In a smaller office, we know when someone is not back when they should be and start calling. Normally there’s no problem, just as long as we know everything’s OK we’re cool.
“But we also have an emergency alert phrase known to all of us here at the office that means the person really is in trouble and needs help without alerting a perpetrator. Once we hear this, we immediately begin to focus on finding out where they are so we can get help to them as soon as possible.”
Other smaller offices like Norville Realty haven’t held safety classes, but keep safety on their mind in their day-to-day activities.
“We fortunately have never had any incidents here, but safety has always been on our minds,” said President Lee Norville. “For instance, a lot of agents will require the customer to come to the office. If they aren’t willing to do that, then the heck with them. In other cases, myself or another male agent will go with the female agents to meet customers if they have to show a house.”
The Nassau/Amelia Island Board of Realtors has held several safety seminars recently and has another coming up.
“September has been designated as Realtor Safety Month, a time for Realtors to heighten their awareness of safety steps they can take when dealing with new customers,” said Tom O’Connell of Watson Realty in Fernandina Beach. “As a part of this education program, The Amelia Island/Nassau County Association of Realtors will host a presentation by the Metro Crime Prevention Unit during National Safety Week. The presentation will be held Thursday, September 25 at 7 p.m. at the board meeting room.”
When Bingemann was president of NEFAR in 1997, she and Glenn East, the executive director of the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, instituted a Realtor Safety Training Video produced by Xel-Defense, the company that trains FBI agents. It was distributed throughout the country for use by Realtor associations and brokers alike. NEFAR uses it in the new Realtor orientation course.
“We were one of the first associations in the country to come up with a safety program,” said Melanie Green, communications director for NEFAR. “The safety program was started in 1998. Glenn was instrumental in starting this and is one of the instructors of Xel-Defense Teams, a self-defense consulting company. Xel-Defense Teams partnered with NEFAR to create a whole safety program.”
When East was a broker, he had a woman in his office who was attacked. The incident, said Green, spurred him to do something to help.
The program consists of a video, worksheet and other safety information and is taught each month at the New Member Orientation.
“The focus of this video is to keep Realtors from becoming ‘selected’ as a victim in the first place, but, if it does happen, what you can do to help yourself,” said Bingemann.
Green said any members could check out the video at any time if they want to refresh their safety awareness.
In response to the need for more safety awareness, NEFAR will partner with Xel-Defense to hold an all-day personal safety course on a Saturday soon.
“They are actually going to teach a physical personal safety seminar,” said Green. “It’s going to be more of a hands-on, physical class about what you do if you are attacked.”
Green also has been sending links to safety components of the NAR website in her Member Update e-mail sent to the NEFAR members. As a general rule, she sends out other e-mails to alert members of suspicious activity or suspicious customers that have been reported to them.
“Periodically, we will get reports from our members of certain activities,” said Green. “If something looks suspicious and it is verifiable, we will send out a special e-mail to the membership. About a year ago, we got reports of a woman attending open houses quite frequently. It was always the same scenario and same description She was casing houses to steal drugs. She was subsequently arrested. We alerted our Realtors to be careful and not to let buyers walk through an open house alone.”
The St. Augustine/St. Johns County Board of Realtors and NEFAR have utilized the talent of Bobbie Moore, safety specialist and president of BeSafe!, to give a safety class during new member orientation. The Jacksonville Women’s Council of Realtors also has brought Moore in to speak to their group.
“I teach them awareness,” Moore, who has been doing safety seminars for the past five years. “It’s key to the whole concept of being safe when you are out and about.
When it comes to Realtors, they need to do the same thing that the individual in the world does, except they have to be even more careful and more alert because they find themselves in such unusual situations.”