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Safety threat causes broker to cancel open houses

Safety threat causes broker to cancel open houses

by DeVore Design, September 1, 2015

Realtor safety tips

Threats come in many forms. A March Florida Realtor magazine article offers an array of true-life safety events along with expert tips on how to defuse a toxic situation.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Aug. 26, 2015 – An unusual incident in Iowa has again focused Realtors on personal safety. Real estate agents are considered especially vulnerable to attacks because they meet relative strangers in out-of-they-way places as a regular part of their job.

In the latest incident, a Realtor in Iowa received a call last week that threatened her with violence, claiming that a local gang had randomly picked her business card out of a hat for a “gang initiation,” and that she’d meet them later in the day.

After the call, the agent contacted the police department and her company, Keller Williams Realty Greater Des Moines. The broker then cancelled all scheduled open houses, pulled agents off the street and asked local police to boost their presence at their offices.

The woman’s broker, Brian Wetz, CEO and team leader, told the Des Moines Register that the agent’s phone call “is not even close to the first time where we’ve had something like this happen. Yet, this one was very specifically concerning.”

The Des Moines incident occurred in a city where Realtors have aggressively promoted safety. In July, the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors (DMAAR) introduced a three-part plan for home showings. The first element is a safety pledge for brokers and property firms. The second is an agent oath not to visit listings until the clients provide identification and they’ve met in public the first time.

The third component – believed to be one of the nation’s first – is a seller contract that codifies an agent’s obligation to avoid home showings to a person he or she has not previously vetted.

According to DMAAR, the seller contract provision empowers agents to turn down on-the-fly requests from unknown homebuyers because they can point to the contract and say it’s required.

© 2015 Florida Realtors®