Are We Too Busy To Be... Safe?
Stagers Need to Be as Safety Conscious as Realtors Are.
This blog was a wake-up call to me as a Home Stager. Although this tragedy took place in Iowa, it could just as easily happen in my (or your) town.
Just last weekend, I stopped in at an open house hosted by a female Realtor, and she was all alone. I also recall sitting in Open Houses alone myself when I was in real estate, and remember a local story at that time of a Realtor who was attacked during an open house.
My condolences go out to the family of this very lovely woman, and I hope her attacker is brought to justice.
I'm wondering if anyone has safety tips for Home Stagers, as we, too, visit vacant properties alone?
What a difference ActiveRain can make in our lives if we think about it. This morning my screen lit up before sunrise and I found myself reading a post by Margaret Rome about the murder of Ashley Okland, a Realtor® with Prudential in Des Moines, Iowa. Looking back, there was something different about this story. It was news but then again it was passed forward by one of us here on Active Rain. Whatever the reason, it hit home with me like a ton of bricks. I began remembering some of the open houses I did solo before I changed my MO and made sure I had a co-host. As if I was on a mission, I began sending the story out in an email to others who I knew in our community would pass it forward through our office network, our Santa Fe Association of Realtors, our local WCR and CRS chapters, our Realtor Association of New Mexico and viral on my social media channels.
Margaret Rome's post woke me up this morning as she took the time to make a difference. Then, I discovered Matt Grohe's post from Des Moines and learned more about the impact there. Tonight, I received this email from Les Sulgrove, 2011 President, Des Moines Area Association of Realtor.
Emily, thank you so much for caring and taking time to spread the word. It is very important to follow through with educating agents. I believe that even the smallest change in habit can make all the difference in the world. Right now police have no suspects or motive and that is wearing very heavily on the minds and hearts of my membership. Keep spreading the word. Probably the two best places to follow along with this story is at http://www.kcci.com or http://www.desmoinesregister.com Be safe and educate. Les Sulgrove
His signature included the link to our Realtor.org library of resources on safety. And then, all of a sudden I remembered the blog I was going to write on ActiveRain in September 2010 during Realtor Safety week... and was too busy.
I am no longer to busy to be safe. I am adding www.realtor.org/safety to my email signature as a reminder never to forget to be aware and help others do the same. We can not change the past. We can only change how we react to the present. It is my hope as more of us tell this story to our peers, we can prevent it from happening again. Please, just do it!
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