from Florida Realtor Magazine, April 2007 | by Richard Westlund | page 22 Realtors in Danger As a real estate professional, you can find yourself in some pretty compromising situations. We’ve got the scoop on how to stay safe and sell. Last fall, Andrea Lard, a broker with 1228 Home in Tampa, received a call from a man claiming to be a former National Football League (NFL) player who was relocating to the area and opening a gym. After making an appointment to meet him at the gym, Lard did some quick online research and couldn’t find an NFL player with the same name.
“Red flags went up all around, so I asked another [sales associate] to go with me to the appointment,” Lard says. “When we arrived at the gym, the man introduced himself with another name. When I asked him about this, he got very defensive and asked why I had brought my ‘body guard.’ I said I wasn’t comfortable working with him and left.”
Later that day, Lard found a photo of the man with yet another name on the county sheriff’s Web site, noting he had a criminal record of assault and rape. She quickly passed along her information to the police, who confirmed the man was posing as someone else.
“I feel lucky that I listened to my instincts, did a little research and took another [sales associate] with me,” says Lard. “Since the gym was vacant, this could have been a very dangerous situation.”
In the early 1990s, Vern English’s business partner was showing a vacant home to a man and woman when the prospects pulled out a gun, robbed him and tied him to an interior column. “He was very lucky because another [sales associate] came by a few hours later and freed him,” says English, broker-owner of All Pro Team Realty Inc. in Palm Harbor. “Although he was a big guy, it doesn’t matter whether you’re large or small, male or female, if someone pulls out a gun.”
Don’t Be a Statistic Many Florida real estate professionals have also experienced potentially dangerous or uncomfortable situations when showing properties, meeting customers or hosting open houses. Besides the threat of assault or robbery, there are other security concerns, such as staying safe online (see related article).
“Safety is an important topic for all our associates,” says Gustavo A. Llamas, district sales manager of the Keyes Co./Realtors Coral Gables office. “We cover these issues in our training. Because we’re in the people business, most associates develop a keen sense about potential clients. I always tell them to go with your gut feeling. If you sense something is wrong, take precautions.”
And safety doesn’t have to come at the expense of sales. In fact, the opposite is true, according to Susan Fraser, a sales associate with Watson Realty’s Mandarin North office in Jacksonville. “When I get a call from someone I don’t know, I refer them to Watson’s mortgage company to get them prequalified. I also have them come into my office, where I can start building rapport—and check them out in person—before taking them out in my car. I don’t want to drive around with someone who might be dangerous.”
Here are some common practices and tips on how to stay safe while doing business.
Hosting Open Houses When hosting open houses, Jeanne Corbin, a sales associate with EXIT Realty Gulf Coast on Venice Island, welcomes the neighbors and encourages them to linger as strangers arrive. Since there’s no telling who will walk into an open house, she takes precautions to protect herself as well as the seller’s property.
“My purse and other valuables are locked inside my car while I’m on open house duty,” she says. “I know the location of the possible exits, and I make sure they’re unlocked.”
After an unsettling experience with two young men who came through a town home she was showing, Maxine Robbins, a sales associate with Leadership Realty Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, never holds an open house alone. “I realized the potential danger from the ‘vibe’ of these two men,” she says. “I stood by the front door ready to flee if necessary.” Fortunately, the two visitors left without incident.
“Even working with a partner, I use extreme caution, because we’re vulnerable in this business,” Robbins says. “Any legitimate seller or buyer appreciates the caution that I employ in my business practice, and that kind of care permeates my real estate practice.”
Showing Properties Being safety conscious is particularly important for real estate professionals and their customers when touring listed properties. Several years ago, Pete McGlade, a sales associate with RE/MAX Tropical Realty in Key Largo, made an appointment to show a new listing to his customers. When he picked up the key, the listing agent told him the tenant had left the day before, so McGlade warned the buyers that the property would be vacant, but in poor condition.
“When I reached the unit, I knocked on the door first,” McGlade says. “A few seconds went by, and I knocked again, this time louder. After about a 10-second pause, the door suddenly flew open and a large angry man pointed a gun in my face, said he was the tenant and that no one was going to see his place today.” Rather than try to persuade the man to show the property, McGlade quickly left with his customers. “The moral of the story is that you should not rely on secondhand information,” he says. “Always err on the side of caution.”
That’s good advice, say experienced real estate professionals who advise sales associates to leave an itinerary and timetable in the office before going out to show a property. Take along a cell phone and don’t wear expensive jewelry or carry an expensive pocketbook or wallet that might make you a robbery target. If showing a vacant property after dark, you might want to take along a spouse, friend or associate for additional protection.
Charlene DeWitt, a broker with Dean & DeWitt Properties in St. Petersburg, found herself in a dangerous situation one evening when meeting a prospective seller at a home he was renovating. “When I called at 5:30 p.m. to confirm that I was coming, I noticed that he seemed rather ‘fuzzy,’ but I didn’t listen to my instincts,” she says. “When I went to the home, the seller let me in and immediately locked the front door. I saw a half-empty bottle of vodka and knew at once that I was in a bad setting.”
DeWitt decided that her best tactic was to show no fear and to take a firm approach. “I told him that it would be difficult for me to place a value on his property until he was closer to finished,” she says. “After a couple more niceties, I said, in my best authoritarian voice, ‘It’s time for me to go. Unlock the door.’ I’m glad to say he complied, but to this day I believe it could have gone either way.”
Three years ago, a sales associate in Flagler County showing a property was robbed of her jewelry, tied up and left in a closet for several hours. Fortunately, the man who attacked her was arrested and convicted, and her stolen jewelry was recovered, according to Ric Giumenta, broker/owner of Exit Realty First Choice in Palm Coast.
“Many times we add to the risk of becoming a victim by wearing expensive jewelry or ignoring our surroundings,” says Giumenta. “The bad guys notice these things, so they’ll choose another target.”
Meeting Customers Today, many Florida real estate companies provide safety awareness guidelines for their sales associates. “At Watson Realty, we take down the car’s license tag, as well as copy the driver’s license and note the address of the property,” says Fraser. “That way, if something happens in the field, the office can call the police and give them the address, license tag and a picture of the sales associate from our files.”
Giumenta, who teaches a course in sales and safety skills at his Giumenta School of Real Estate, recommends the following practices:
1. Never have a first meeting with a customer at a property. Always meet customers in the office, where you can introduce them to the broker, manager or other colleagues. If you must, meet them at a public place to introduce yourself and conduct a buyer interview.
2. Leave an itinerary with the office. Let someone know what houses you will be viewing—and be sure the customer knows there is a schedule you’ll be following.
3. Carry a cell phone. Stay in contact with someone while you’re out in the field.
4. Don’t wear flashy jewelry or carry several credit cards. Carry only a small amount of cash or one credit card, and have a key ring with just your car key and lockbox key on it.
5. Use your own car. Be in control of the presentation and be the guide. If a customer wants to drive, have him or her follow you. And don’t park where you can be blocked in.
6. Always enter through the front door. If you have to use a side door, have the customers wait at the front door and let them in that way.
7. Inside the house, stay between the customer and an exit. Don’t ever walk into a room first. It’s safer and a better experience for the customer.
8. Have a secret code. Create a code word or phrase to let your colleagues know that you’re in need of help. Then, if you feel threatened, you could call your office and say, “Could you please call Mr. CODEWORD to cancel my appointment?” This let’s the office know that you need help without giving any indication to the listener.
9. Carry pepper spray if it’s legal in your area. This may be used for defense from animals, snakes or any predators and give you time to get to safety.
Make Safety a Priority In recent years, many Florida brokers have stepped up their safety awareness programs. For instance, Lard warns her company’s associates against the danger of complacency—even if they haven’t had a bad experience. “You always think, ‘It won’t happen to me,’ but our business gets more dangerous by the day,” she says.
In addition, real estate associations around the state have developed Realtor® Watch programs to heighten alertness about crime and establish communication ties to local police departments.
“We’ve had a program in Flagler County since 1992,” says Giumenta, a former New York auxiliary police officer. “If the police have information about a crime, they tell our association, and if our associates see anything out of the ordinary, they call it in. It’s a good program, and it’s working well for us.”
As Debbie Smith, broker of Home Run Real Estate Inc. in Greenacres, says, “I teach my [sales associates] that no sale is worth taking a chance,” she says. “Safety first, last and always.”
Richard Westlund is a Miami-based freelance writer. 
© Copyright 2008 Florida Association of Realtors®