Realtor Safety 911

I had a very high compliment email this evening and I wanted to share it with my readers. At times, you are not aware of who is actually reading your posts and when you find out, sometimes you are very humble. Tonight I got this email from  Robert N. Bass, Esq and he said some very nice things about our site www.realtorsafety911.com. I wanted to say Thank You and to post his comments. If you are ever in need of Robert’s services, or know of anyone who would be, please pass his information along.

Hello, Beth:

I want to compliment you on your Website!  Below is an article I wrote which will be published tomorrow in the weekly newsletter for HomeSmart Real Estate, the largest brokerage in the Southwest, with more than 3,200 agents.  I hope it gets you some traffic!

I have a particular interest in the subject for 2 reasons: I am a broker defense lawyer who has spent the last 25 years defending REALTORS® in E&O claims and license complaints, and as a real estate educator teaching them how to reduce risk.  http://activerain.com/rnbesquire

I have also learned, practiced (and for 20 years taught) martial arts. I began studying karate in 1959 when I was 8 years old- under Grandmaster Robert A. Trias, who actually founded the first martial arts school in the United States, here in Phoenix.  This was long before anybody in the West had even heard of martial arts – I was very lucky! http://www.shuri-ryu.com/trias.htm  I earned money through college and law school by teaching self-defense to women.

I know that what you are doing is largely a labor of love and service to the industry, and I truly admire that!  I wish you all the best and will do all I can to publicize your site!

Cordially,
Robert N. Bass, Esq.
1715 W. Northern Ave.  Ste. 110
Phoenix, AZ  85021
602.274.9452    Fax: 602.274.9326
Robert@BassLawFirm.com

Confidentiality Note: This e-mail, and any attachment to it, is LEGALLY PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL, PROPRIETARY, OR OTHERWISE PROTECTED BY LAW FROM DISCLOSURE. If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, please immediately return it to the sender and delete it from your system.

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From the Lawyer’s Desk:

REALTOR® SAFETY: Practicing “safe real estate” means more to me than risk reduction and paperwork/disclosure issues.  To me it extends beyond the legal realm and also encompasses being aware of your personal safety.  Nobody likes to think about a situation in which you will need to defend yourself against a potential attack, but with so many foreclosures, abandoned properties and deteriorated neighborhoods out there, safety has to be a top-of-mind concern.  Just as with claims and lawsuits in general, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to personal safety.

I came across a Website that contains a lot of useful information and useful, practical tips involving security and safety awareness, specifically tailored to the work you do as agents.  I found informative videos, articles and even commentary from agents who have been involved in incidents and are happy to share their experience with other Realtors®.

http://realtorsafety911.com

Please spend a few minutes on this site and I hope you will incorporate some of their tips into your daily practice.

Have a great weekend… And Hey - Let’s be careful out there!

Attorney Bob Bass offers his tips and advice on reducing risk and improving your professional service, and is a great source of attorney referrals!  Bob invites your questions and comments at Robert@BassLawFirm.com, or you can call him at 602.274.9452

As realtors, you must always be on guard and thinking. You shouldn’t be afraid to show property; you must be smart when showing property. If you are going to show property early in the morning or late in the evening, try to take someone with you.  If you cannot take someone with you, be prepared for the unexpected. Take a picture of the client’s license plate and even of the client and email to your broker or your spouse, so someone has some information on whom you are working with. If the client doesn’t like that, then you should take that as a sign and ‘get out’.

Daytona Beach Area Real Estate Market, Data and Updates. By Lisa Hill, “THE SMART CHOICE!”
I was recently reminded of an incident that happened to a REALTOR® friend of mine, a few years ago. This incident was the type of horror story we all fear.

My friend received a call from a potential buyer who had to catch a flight out of town later that morning and he needed to leave by 9:00 a.m. He was anxious to see a model in a development my REALTOR® friend was representing and the only time he was available was early in the morning. So my friend scheduled an appointment to meet this potential buyer at one of the models at 7:30 a.m.

When she arrived at the model, the buyer was waiting and they proceeded to go inside the house. A few minutes later, another vehicle arrived with a couple in it. The potential buyer told my REALTOR® friend that these were friends of his and they all proceeded to view the house.

Then they got to the master bedroom. At this point, the original potential buyer pulled a gun out of a briefcase, then used garbage bag ties on my REALTOR® friend, and put her in the closet of the master bedroom. Now while my friend was in the closet, she could hear the 3 people  rummaging through the house and talking on what sounded like walkie talkies, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying, nor could she understand what they wanted in a model home.

Meanwhile, she could see into the master bathroom from her position in the bedroom closet, through the space where the criminals had left the door open a crack. She kept an eye on the mirror in the master bathroom, which was reflecting the criminal’s positions outside the master bedroom. She managed to get the ties off her feet, then summoned her courage and ran out the back sliding glass doors to a neighbors house and called the police.

The criminals left before the police arrived and they never could figure out what the overall plan was, but it was obvious that these criminals were professionals and there were others close by.

I titled this post that buyers needed to read this too, for an important reason. If you’re a real estate buyer, you need to understand why your REALTOR® expects you to do things a certain way. For our safety we need you, as a real estate buyer to…

1. Meet us at our office, not at the house you want to see.
2. Take time to sit down with us to give us all time to get comfortable with each other, as well as to help us understand your real estate preferences.
3. Let us make a copy of your driver’s license and leave copies with our office personnel.
4. Stick to a schedule, so we can leave a definitive itinerary with our office personnel.
5. Completely fill in all the fields on the forms at an open house. You may think looking at open houses is a fun afternoon outing, but we honestly need to be sensitive to the safety of the seller’s possessions, and our lives.

Real estate buyers, we understand that you’re anxious to start looking at the houses or condos you want to see. But I’m sure you’ll agree with me that the safety of the agent is of utmost importance, and you can probably wait just one more hour. Please be understanding of this and cooperate with any requests your agent may make.  The story I’ve just told had a happy ending, as this agent was able to return safely home to her family and continue a successful career, albeit more than a little bit reluctant to return to work. But there have been many others who were not so lucky. Just read Elizabeth Nieves’ recent post about Sarah Anne Walker; a REALTOR® who was brutally murdered while holding open a model home in 2006.