SAFETY! How do you stay safe with strangers?

Here are some ideas: 

1.  Make certain that after meeting that person in the office you have them to FOLLOW you to the property.  Tell them you have another appointment and that would be best.

2.  When they meet you at the office, ask them to make a copy of their driver's license.  If they object forgeddaboutit!

3.  Have someone to call you every 10 minutes on your cell phone.

4.  For open houses, I would go to the neighbor on either side or across the street, introduce myself and let them know that you will be working this open house.  Leave your card and ask them if it would be alright for you to call them to check in for safety purposes.

5.  The biggest thing to remember is you are a potential victim IN ANY NEIGHBORHOOD!!  The media has trained us all that criminals look a certain way and that we are safer in some areas more than others.  But the reality is 2-fold: 1) that criminals are crime smart and 2) you may be a victim of a DIFFERENT type of crime in different areas. 

Criminals don't want to get caught so they blend into the neighborhood.  So in a wealthy neighborhood, the criminal is probably NOT going to look like a crack addict but is going to look like the residents!!  

In an upscale area you may not get caught in a gang shoot out, but does it matter if a Ted Bundy type asks you for directions and forces you into his Jaguar?

We have to retrain our thinking for our own safety.

Jane,

Thanks for the post. In all cases we seek to get verifiable information, loan officers name and company, as well as phone number, an attorney's number if they are working with one, as well as a cell number and a land line number. Just in case we need to use the reverse directories. We have a foreclosure division and there are many vacant properties. As such, we have a rule than the women must take another agent along with them to show the property. Especially, if you get a call in and the person is near or at the property. There is no appointment if a pair of agents cannot go together. We have a preference for two agents at open houses.

Good points! We always try to have people meet us in the office too, but there are times when that just isn't practical.

It's amazing how daylight savings time can change my caution level. When it's light out I do a lot more showings after work. As it gets darker, I am much more hesitant when someone I don't know  "has to" see it after work.

Jane we have a had a very strange buyer in our market that has scared the day light out of several female agents in four of our local offices. One agent made a broadcast message about  this creep it and it was like America's Most Wanted hot line!  We got over a dozen reports of similiar bizarre behavior from the same individual that we contacted  our legal department who then contacted the Stae Police from what I have been told.

I suggest a code word be established between any two people, Let's say the word is Montana and it means that when stated in a conversation you are uncomfortable and you need someone to show up ASAP! Make the call.

Very professionally excuse yourself from the inside of the property to "get some more information" and wait for your contact person to show up. Your safe!!!

I have seen some agents put the combination in mls.It is scary.

i usually ask a girlfriend who is retired come with me to an open house or if I am going to meet starngers or call the office and have them call me during my appointment.I do not give out my home number, till I know them well.My home number is not on my card.

The husband of one of my co-workers won't allow his wife to show an REO property --- ever. We never know the situation with an REO. There are disgruntled homeowners who still hang around the house, or homeless people who break in.

I have previewed, from the street, some REOs, and have seen folks going in and out of homes that are supposed to be vacant.

Safety should alwasy be foremost. No sale is worth your life.

I copy driver's license, and make sure my husband knows which property I'm showing. And I watch where I am in relation to where the people are when I'm showing- try to stay nearer the door. That may not be enough, I like the idea of the calls on the cell phone.
I had a client supposed to come up yesterday from Phoenix to see houses. He called that he was on his way- wanted to know that I was available. I mentioned that "my husband or I" would be available, and he never showed. Probably for some other reason, but it made me wonder if mentioning my husband changed something.