PSA: Agents BE Careful When Showing Properties to Unknown Buyers

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PSA: Agents BE Careful When Showing Properties to Unknown Buyers

Mindy JensenPro Member
BiggerPockets Money Podcast Host · Longmont, CO · Member since 2014 · 7k+ posts · 10k+ votes

The Colorado Division of Real Estate issued a warning, reminding agents to be cautious when meeting a new buyer for the first time.

Please exercise caution. There is no amount of money worth your life.

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
Moderator
Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
7y

I live in a very rural area where properties can be 1-2 hours from the neighbors and in remote locations, particularly up in the mountains where cell phone signals don't exist. I tell agents to meet the client in the office and have the secretary make a copy of their ID and write the schedule in a log (it's fake). We make sure they know that we know who they are and that they are with the agent. That would stop 99% of these incidents.

For me, I prefer a tool that works well on people and Grizzly.

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  • Russell BrazilBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
    7y

    That is likely in response to an event that just happened over this way where an agent was just murdered showing a new construction property. It was not in some unsafe area either.  As a word of caution too...I think women tend to be a little more careful than men on this stuff...but it was a male agent that was killed. It can happen to anyone, anywhere.

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  • Eduardo Sanabria
    Member since 2018 · 36 posts · 11 votes
    7y

    That's why in Texas you can't show properties to a "buyer" without them providing a government ID. A few years back (80's or 90's) a string of murders triggered this legislation. It is common sense to ask for ID and to let everyone know where you go and where...

    2Reply
  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    7y

    Thanks Mindy.. My wife has me come along if her womens intuition comes into play. 

    and now a days she ( and for the last decade or so) she will not show a property until buyer is pre qualified and lender has let her know they can buy.. that weeds them out as well.

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  • Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
    7y

    I live in a very rural area where properties can be 1-2 hours from the neighbors and in remote locations, particularly up in the mountains where cell phone signals don't exist. I tell agents to meet the client in the office and have the secretary make a copy of their ID and write the schedule in a log (it's fake). We make sure they know that we know who they are and that they are with the agent. That would stop 99% of these incidents.

    For me, I prefer a tool that works well on people and Grizzly.

    The DIY Landlord Book4.7248 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    54Reply
  • Daniel F. Harb
    ARRT, RT(R) / Rental Property Investor · Newport Beach, CA · Member since 2017 · 360 posts · 242 votes
    7y

    Nice Sig, @Nathan Gesner 

    ~Daniel F. Harb, ARRT, RT(R)

    2Reply
  • Nick Rutkowski
    Rental Property Investor · Ithaca, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    @Mindy Jensen

    Stay safe everyone! We want you to come home to your family after a hard days work.

    1Reply
  • Nick C.
    Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    Our policy is agents are not allowed to show houses to anyone they haven't already met and texted us a picture ID of the individual. We take it very seriously, and they will be fired if they meet someone without the ID.

    Serendipitously, this just came up yesterday. An individual texted off a yard sign they wanted to see a house, but would not send a photo ID, and got argumentative. Our agent told him to go fish. Even if he wanted the house, if he wouldn't acquiesce to a simple request like that for the safety of the agent, imagine what a pain he would have been during the purchase process... 

    12Reply
  • Robert Steele
    Investor · Lucas, TX · Member since 2010 · 620 posts · 352 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Eduardo Sanabria:

    That's why in Texas you can't show properties to a "buyer" without them providing a government ID. A few years back (80's or 90's) a string of murders triggered this legislation. It is common sense to ask for ID and to let everyone know where you go and where...

     Are you sure about this? My TX RE Broker has never heard of this law and I cannot find anything on the Internet about it?

    In TX we have something better anyway, it's called a handgun license.

    7Reply
  • Steve K.
    Realtor · Boulder, CO · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    7y

    @Nathan G. There’s a saying in Alaska about which hand gun is best for personal defense against Grizzlies. They say a small caliber, short barreled one like a .38 snubby, with the front sight filed completely off is ideal... because it hurts the least when the bear jams it up your rear end!

    10Reply
  • Charlie MacPherson
    China, ME · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y

    @Steve K. I have an Eskimo buddy in northern Alaska (Kaktovik) who tried to scare a polar bear away with a couple of rounds from his .45 shot into the air.  The bear was trying to bash down the door to his neighbor's house.

    The bear came at him instead of running. (bad decision, bear!) and my buddy shot him.  1 round, center mass - hit his spine and that was the end of the bear.  Luckily my buddy is a good shot at close range!  He did have 3 rounds left - but I'd be having nightmares for a while after that.

    For my daily carry, I use something much smaller and easier to conceal: S&W Airweight .38.

    These rounds are surprisingly powerful.  Very close to a 9mm in stopping power and the gun doesn't imprint.  You'll never know I carry it.

    If you find yourself in vacant / abandoned homes as often as I do, or you're meeting strangers as often as I do, I highly recommend this for a daily carry weapon.

    And I pray to Almighty God that I never have to use it.

    9Reply
  • John Thedford
    Real Estate Broker · Naples, FL · Member since 2013 · 9k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

    I live in a very rural area where properties can be 1-2 hours from the neighbors and in remote locations, particularly up in the mountains where cell phone signals don't exist. I tell agents to meet the client in the office and have the secretary make a copy of their ID and write the schedule in a log (it's fake). We make sure they know that we know who they are and that they are with the agent. That would stop 99% of these incidents.

    For me, I prefer a tool that works well on people and Grizzly.

     What model?
    I have H&K MP5SD when everything else fails:)

    1Reply
  • Greg H.Pro Member
    Moderator
    Broker/Flipper · Austin, TX · Member since 2013 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Eduardo Sanabria:

    That's why in Texas you can't show properties to a "buyer" without them providing a government ID. A few years back (80's or 90's) a string of murders triggered this legislation. It is common sense to ask for ID and to let everyone know where you go and where...

     This is not true 

    0Reply
  • Steve K.
    Realtor · Boulder, CO · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    7y

    @Charlie MacPherson Love it Charlie. Not super fun for plinking, but can't be beat for CCW. .357 version is great too: load up .38's for human predators, .357 buffalo bore in the wild. The new(ish) +P .38 ammo is really pretty awesome too, every bit as powerful as standard .9mm. 

    Regarding bear: there was a case last summer of a fishing guide in AK who got charged in dense brush by a Grizz and was able to stop it with a few rounds from a pocket 9 using +P, point blank so its possible although not recommended (12 gauge with slugs, 30.06, .454 etc would be better obviously, but a .9 in the pocket is better than a bazooka in the truck). 

    My good buddy from college wasn't so lucky, he got jumped by a Grizz out fishing one day on the Russian River, didn't have time to draw and the bear chewed his face off (he survived just barely but lost his eyesight, sense of smell, entire face and part of skull, spent a year in the hospital undergoing many surgeries, etc.).  Grizz are incredibly fast, all my friend saw was a blur of brown and then he was being eaten, hands and face first thats how they do it. Wouldn't have mattered what kind of gun he was carrying, no time to react. He wrote a book about it called Beyond the Bear and was on Oprah and everything. 

    Sorry folks, didn't mean to derail the thread, this is actually a serious thread. 

    4Reply
  • Eduardo Sanabria
    Member since 2018 · 36 posts · 11 votes
    7y

    OK. I am gonna back-track a little here. Back in 2001, while seeing some properties in Houston, the Realtor (I don't recall his name) told me that he was REQUIRED to have a Govt.-Issued ID because there had been murders in years before. He made it sound like it was the law,  perhaps I misunderstood and maybe it was his Realtor Association that had that rule.  So about 20 years or so ago, something happened that made realtors ask for ID's before showing properties. At least, that was what the dude told me... this was post the 9-11 tragedies, and I do carry a non-anglo last name...

    0Reply
  • Robert Leonard
    Rental Property Investor · Greater Boston Area · Member since 2018 · 258 posts · 105 votes
    7y

    @Jay Hinrichs I like the prequalification idea - that's a good one! Not the end-all-be-all, but I'm sure it helps significantly.

    1Reply
  • Steve K.
    Honolulu, HI · Member since 2017 · 247 posts · 315 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @John Thedford:
    Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

    I live in a very rural area where properties can be 1-2 hours from the neighbors and in remote locations, particularly up in the mountains where cell phone signals don't exist. I tell agents to meet the client in the office and have the secretary make a copy of their ID and write the schedule in a log (it's fake). We make sure they know that we know who they are and that they are with the agent. That would stop 99% of these incidents.

    For me, I prefer a tool that works well on people and Grizzly.

     What model?
    I have H&K MP5SD when everything else fails:)

    that's a Sig P220

    i'm an HK guy too, but only handguns- I have 4 :)

    0Reply
  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Steve K.:

    @Charlie MacPherson Love it Charlie. Not super fun for plinking, but can't be beat for CCW. .357 version is great too: load up .38's for human predators, .357 buffalo bore in the wild. The new(ish) +P .38 ammo is really pretty awesome too, every bit as powerful as standard .9mm. 

    Regarding bear: there was a case last summer of a fishing guide in AK who got charged in dense brush by a Grizz and was able to stop it with a few rounds from a pocket 9 using +P, point blank so its possible although not recommended (12 gauge with slugs, 30.06, .454 etc would be better obviously, but a .9 in the pocket is better than a bazooka in the truck). 

    My good buddy from college wasn't so lucky, he got jumped by a Grizz out fishing one day on the Russian River, didn't have time to draw and the bear chewed his face off (he survived just barely but lost his eyesight, sense of smell, entire face and part of skull, spent a year in the hospital undergoing many surgeries, etc.).  Grizz are incredibly fast, all my friend saw was a blur of brown and then he was being eaten, hands and face first thats how they do it. Wouldn't have mattered what kind of gun he was carrying, no time to react. He wrote a book about it called Beyond the Bear and was on Oprah and everything. 

    Sorry folks, didn't mean to derail the thread, this is actually a serious thread. 

    Steve I was at a lodge up in Alaska and there was a nice meadow between lodge and the doc were the boats were.. I jogged in those days.. asked if it was OK.. and they said the only thing that runs in this area is PREY...  then went on to tall me about a bush pilot that got killed by a grizz he would jog up and down the back country runways.. and one nailed him..  so with all that.. standing on the river bank looking at paw prints as big as pie plats.. was a little nerve racking and with your little can of bear spray.. :)  .  

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  • Brandon Ellis
    Member since 2018 · 44 posts · 6 votes
    7y
    One gun I'd be interested in would be the foldable Glock 19. However they're kind of pricey.
    0Reply
  • Jeff Morelock
    Rental Property Investor · Marianna Florida · Member since 2011 · 357 posts · 169 votes
    7y

    Showing houses with a "back up" helps keep you safer. I'm also a law enforcement officer and we're taught to wait for back up whenever possible. (And yes I do carry a gun while showing properties and meeting with clients) 

    1Reply
  • Jose ThompsonPro Member
    Harrisonburg, VA · Member since 2018 · 8 posts · 3 votes
    7y

    That's unfortunate that there are idiots like that out there. That is on my my mind quite a bit now that my sister is getting her real estate license in Tennessee. And just a few years ago, a woman was murdered showing a vacant house two doors down from my in-laws' place in Arkansas. The guy was caught a few days later but all that could have been avoided if they had used the guidelines posted in the original comment.

    0Reply
  • Brittany Anderson
    NJ · Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 4 votes
    7y

    Wow thanks for the information. I'm in school to be a realtor l, didn't think about anything like this. 

    2Reply
  • Dion Rainey
    Flipper/Rehabber · Washington DC · Member since 2018 · 8 posts · 12 votes
    7y

    @Brittany Anderson You must seriously take it into consideration.  In 18 years in Real Estate, I can't tell you how many properties I've walked into and encountered someone who wasn't legally supposed to be in the property. Most of the encounters were uneventful but there's a few that were close calls and could have gone very wrong!

    2Reply
  • Jamie RoseBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Anchorage, AK · Member since 2017 · 294 posts · 182 votes
    7y

    I have a .44 mag - we had 9 bears at our house last summer - both black and brown- let me know when you're ready to come up to invest in the great AK friends!

    0Reply
  • Austin Smither Langley
    Real Estate Agent · Houston, TX · Member since 2018 · 65 posts · 49 votes
    7y

    At my brokerage, we require investors agree to an initial meeting with us prior to sending them our properties to ensure safety, full disclosure, and full transparency.  We don't want someone we don't know going to properties that we sell.  This annoys some investors/buyers and filters some out, but if they can't make time for a quick meeting, how will they make time for property showings??

    I'm also glad we live in a country where agents like @Jamie Rose can protect themselves from bears...no initial meeting or ID request can prevent that!

    0Reply
  • Chinmay J.
    Investor · Northern, VA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 904 votes
    7y

    Just carry....(of course legally, and obeying all the laws in the jurisdiction)

    0Reply
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