Just yesterday, Realtors in the Wilmington area, including my team, had a safety scare. I received a call from a lady, who I won't name, saying she was looking for properties in our area, particularly distressed ones, and would want to see homes today between 1 and 5. Through multiple communications with her, I gave her a rundown on my team structure (I'm the team leader and listing specialist) and told her that one of my buyer's agents would be in touch with her. Then, I turned her info over to the agent.
A short while later, both my buyer's agent and I received a text from a Realtor at another local real estate company warning us that 10 female agents in his company had been contacted by a woman or man asking to see distressed properties between 1 and 5, just as we had. A later text said they were up to 20 and that other companies were reporting it, as well. At this point, I contacted the owner and management of my company to ask them to look into this and warn my fellow agents.
The owner of our company is always very involved and quick to act in these situations. He contacted local police and warned all staff and agents of suspicious activity. Other females agents in our office responded to the notification the company sent out and said they too were contacted.
The police investigated and they believe that it has something to do with an upcoming home investing/house flipping seminar, but weren't 100% sure. However, all of the calls were from 704, 858, or 843 numbers and only to FEMALE agents.
The police did call one of the numbers and left a voicemail for their call to be returned. Hopefully, that will scare off anyone who has less than honorable intentions. Everyone has been urged to be very careful with these people, to use a safety plan, and meet them at the office first.
This just goes to show how important it is that a real estate community communicates, no matter the brokerage. There's always a chance that these calls could be nothing more than a flood of investors getting ready for this seminar. But there's a good chance they aren't. We need to help keep each other safe to avoid the tragedies we've seen in the past.
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