BEWARE WHEN SHOWING PROPERTY!! ARKANSAS AGENT MISSING!

BEWARE WHEN SHOWING PROPERTY!! ARKANSAS AGENT MISSING!

Karen MargraveBusiness Member
Moderator
Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes

This is mostly for the women on BP, but, it is wise for men too. There's an Arkansas Realtor that went to show a property and hasn't been heard from since. Missing Realtor

As an agent over the years I have heard these stories before, and they are always horrific. Here's some advice especially for those in rural areas or rough neighborhoods:

1. NEVER go meet someone at a property if you haven't met them in person before.

2. ALWAYS have someone else go with you to meet people at a property.

3. Don't hold Open Houses alone.

4. Have some type of GPS tracking device, OTHER THAN YOUR PHONE!! It's a complicated process for Police to be able to track your phone without permission from YOU, not your spouse, parent, etc. There are many options that are inexpensive GPS TILE

5. If you're not opposed to it, get a concealed weapons permit and carry a gun! If not a gun, carry taser or ? 

6. If nothing else is available, make sure you have your keys with you, press the faub and set off an alarm, maybe someone will hear it! 

7. If you MUST go alone, let someone know where you are going, and check in (from your car) when you arrive safely maybe text a license plate number of the person you are meeting with. 

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Joel OwensBusiness Member
Moderator
Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
12y

Number 5 ONLY if you are going to practice diligently with the weapon so it becomes second nature like tying your shoes.

If you buy stuff thinking it will save you and it collects dust without practice then forget it. Actually the criminal will have more practice then you and use it against you.

Weapons are NOT just knives and guns.

Your belt, jewelry, keys, pens etc. can all be deadly weapons if you know how to use them. Hard spots on the ground, corners of buildings, rail bannisters, etc. Make use of your environment and what you have to survive.

Regular items such as guns and knives are classified as  weapons and as such are not allowed in many venues around where you live. Learn how to use your body first as it never leaves you. Then unconventional weapons that you are still likely to have with you at all times. Last the weapons you can't use or train with as often that are not allowed in most venues.

Decades in street self defense and the martial arts.

No legal advice.  

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  • Investor · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2012 · 145 posts · 39 votes
    11y

    @Karen Margrave

    May prayers go out to the agent and her family, my wife is a realtor and I drive her crazy about safety because she's been in the business so long that she becomes comfortable. I'll pass this on to everyone in my office. I wish I could've  voted twice for this

    Thank you for sharing...

  • Jo-Ann LapinPro Member
    Loan Officer · Tustin, CA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 713 votes
    10y

    Thanks for the share. You are 1000% correct.

  • Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 40 posts · 6 votes
    10y

    The suggestions are very helpful, still adding to this I suggest to drive there with your own car or public transport.

  • Investor, Contractor, Appraiser for Real Estate Appraiser · Lexington, KY · Member since 2015 · 70 posts · 35 votes
    10y

    My wife is a agent/broker and often shows property by herself; however, if she is meeting someone for the first time I attend; however, she pre-screens every buyer with a few questions. There name (she then googles them), if they are pre-qualified for a mortgage with a lender.  This is the best question and can sometimes cause the caller to get testy, but you will get right to the point.  A stalker or murder most likely will not have a prequal letter.  She will only show properties to qualified buyers that can produce a letter from a know lender.  This is a way to weed out the crazies and the time wasters.

  • Shallotte, NC · Member since 2013 · 130 posts · 16 votes
    10y

    As a plumber, I go into hundreds of homes, sometimes as many as 7 per day running service calls. Many drunk people call me over to their homes. I don't know that they are drunk until I am around them for a minute. I run into all kinds.

    I went to a vacant winterized home on Holden Beach, NC to de-winterize it around March, like I do dozens of times per year. While I was under the kitchen sink turning on the water valve for the dishwasher, something went flying past me, ran out the door, and took off running down the beach. That scared the crap out of me. I couldn't even get a description, as I only saw the back of a mans body for two seconds as he turned the corner and jumped the seawall. The cops came and they wanted a description. I told them that I was under a sink, on my side, and didn't get a glimpse until I was on my feet looking out of the window. He was a white guy with dark hair as I saw his face for maybe half of a second. It could have have been millions of different men in a police lineup.

    You really have to be careful going into strange homes. Your life can change in a second!

  • Mount Pleasant, TN · Member since 2015 · 6 posts · 0 votes
    10y
    This is great advice for both sexes. Those potential dangers never crossed my mind, but I definitely will be more prepared.
  • Investor · Member since 2016 · 28 posts · 1 vote
    10y

    THANK YOU FOR THE TIPS!!! I never go alone. 

  • Investor · Ponca City, OK · Member since 2016 · 46 posts · 15 votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Simon Campbell:

    I wonder if there are any statistics out there that show if crimes against real estate agents are any greater than crimes against other professions. What are the odds that an agent would get attacked in a life-time of work?

    I am not saying that we shouldn't be cautious but that should be general practice throughout life regardless of what we are doing or in what profession we are in.

     It's no different than any job that puts you in a vulnerable situation....

  • Investor · Ponca City, OK · Member since 2016 · 46 posts · 15 votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Bri R.:

    Awesome list!

    Here are some more..

    - Take a DOG to the showings.  If u don't have a big dog, rent one at your local dog shelter and bring him with you. (pitbull, etc)

    - Also, never go inside the property with strangers. Wait outside (if vacant property) close to your car until they come out.

    - Make sure when setting up the showing,.. ask them to bring their wife or mother or sister or any female / and / or children along. (this one always works!)

    LOVE THE DOG IDEA.   When i was at properties, whether showing or looking, i made sure my husband knew exactly where i was going and who i was meeting. If i was showing, i would wait outside and tell them to check it out. Of course you have to be very conscientious if there is a tenant there who of course is missing their kabillion dollar ring after you were there... tell them to stash the family jewels.   If you are showing, you can also carry your wasp spray because you are "ALLERGIC AND SAW A WASP LAST TIME YOU WERE THERE"... don't have my carry permit yet, so i keep wasp spray in my car.... 18 foot distance :)

  • Tampa, FL · Member since 2014 · 21 posts · 6 votes
    10y

    Thanks for the helpful advice! As a 25 year-old woman studying for my RE license, this sort of thing scares me all the time. I agree 100% with the tracking advice, not just for showing houses but in general. My car broke down on a really dark road a few months ago (non-RE related) and my partner was able to find me because of remote GPS even though I had no idea where I was and was in a shady part of town. 

    Another helpful thing I've found is holding your keys in your hand with your car key sticking out between two fingers while making a fist. It sounds silly, but if you're trying to get to your car and someone attacks you, you can easily stab your attacker with the key. Always makes me feel a little safer. Guns and tasers work though too!

  • Investor · Henderson, NC · Member since 2016 · 484 posts · 208 votes
    10y

    All this talk about concealed weapons...I don't usually meet strangers without EXPOSED weapons! When I show a property, I have a big shiny .44 revolver mounted to my side in plain view for everybody to see. You'd have to be really stupid to try and do anything to me! Even if it was unloaded it makes for quite a blunt object.

    It's kind of like putting up signs that say "this area is being watched by cameras". The idea is to PREVENT the crime before it happens, not just catch them or stop them after it happens. The criminal thinks to himself "Hmmmm....maybe I should go screw with somebody else".

    On occasion it scares or offends somebody. I don't care even a little bit.

  • Wholesaler · Glendale, AZ · Member since 2016 · 31 posts · 7 votes
    10y

    great tips, I know the thread is pretty old but do we know if the missing agent was ever found? 

  • Investor · Lynchburg, VA · Member since 2016 · 37 posts · 24 votes
    10y

    Yes unfortunately it did not end well: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/guilty-verdict-in-kidnap-murder-of-real-estate-agent/

  • Ventura, CA · Member since 2016 · 97 posts · 43 votes
    10y
    THE TILE IS ONLY BLUETOOTH, not GPS! It's for short range finding. Bluetooth only works for 30 feet, or less depending on obstructions. And it will only work properly with the phone it's paired to, since it's that phone that tracks your items. The only reason it may help is if you have the tile on you and your phone gets left at the scene of your abduction. In that case, the police MAY be able to figure out which way you went. If your phone is still working and the police get within 30 feet of you when searching for you, then it could be a good tracking device.
  • Imperial Beach, CA · Member since 2015 · 29 posts · 3 votes
    10y

    Good tips 

  • Investor · King of Prussia, PA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 339 votes
    10y

    @Karen Margrave Very great tips! Thanks for sharing!

  • Charlotte, NC · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 0 votes
    10y
    Good advice
  • Memphis, TN · Member since 2014 · 32 posts · 5 votes
    10y

    @Aaron

  • Investor · Dallas TX, United States · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    I am a retired police officer, and a huge 2nd amendment fan.  The truth is that there are a lot of sick and dangerous predators out there, and predators look for the weak to prey upon.  Don't be prey.  Learn how to shoot and carry a gun if it is legal in your state.  

  • Cornelius, NC · Member since 2016 · 104 posts · 51 votes
    10y

    My daughter will be going off to college in the fall.  We've enrolled her in a self defense class, and also invited her graduating friends' parents to enroll their daughters.  All of them did and were very happy that my wife had done the leg work & set it up.

    High schools and colleges should all offer self defense class & encourage their female students to take them.     

  • Real Estate Agent · Kerrville, TX · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    10y

    Thank you sharing. I can be careless and I need reminders to keep me alert. 

  • Wholesaler · Pompano Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 10 posts · 1 vote
    10y

    You never think it will happen to you, but I have shown countless properties over the years and I have been in some extremely uncomfortable situations.... and I am a man.  Even if only 1 in 1000 is a regrettable encounter, if you show a lot of properties like I have it is only a matter of time before you run into scary situations that may involve theft, kidnapping or worse.

  • Real Estate Agent · Audubon, NJ · Member since 2016 · 4 posts · 0 votes
    10y

    I always carry some sort of protection with me in Florida. Some of the towns and cities I work are very sketchy. I agree with John, you can get into some really uncomfortable situations.

  • Investor · Dallas TX, United States · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    Showing property can be dangerous. I don't know your state gun laws, but if it is an option then you should seriously consider a concealed weapon permit. I am 6 ft 200lb for US Marine and retired cop, and I carry most often when I go to show a property to a stranger. 

  • Investor · Alabaster, AL · Member since 2016 · 280 posts · 88 votes
    10y

    Great points. ...on the gun though...statistics show that the offender is likely to overpower you and shoot you with your gun ...

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