FOR HOME SELLERS REAL ESTATE AGENTS – Showing A Home Could Be Dangerous Business!
FOR HOME SELLERS REAL ESTATE AGENTS – Showing A Home Could Be Dangerous Business!
MANY DOCUMENTED AGENT ASSAULTS AND UNSUSPECTED DANGERS FOR HOME SELLERS!
Believe me I am not trying to be glib here.
But in what other profession do you get a special license then spend a good part of your days taking near-complete-strangers through vacant houses? Or show strangers unoccupied real estate listings on a regular consistent basis? Or cart around folks you didn’t know half an hour ago through remote areas in your car?
Dangers abound for careless Real Estate Agents not employing good common sense when showing to new prospective clients. But homesellers going it alone – For Sale By Owner – can expose themselves to the same dangers – assault identity theft or much worse.
I ran across an article written over two years ago about a middle-aged man posing as a prospective homebuyer around St. Louis MO then pulling a handgun and sexually assaulting unsuspecting female agents. This story in St. Louis Real Estate Bloggers offers links to several other documented assaults in Ohio South Carolina and Georgia.
Unrepresented home sellers can face similar danger or the disturbing prospect of a masquerading "buyer" can pilfer personal identity information from the checking account statement laying on a home office computer desk.
Here in Chicago concern over home showing safety has been so heightened recently that one man Joe Rosner a Hebron IL self-defense instructor has built a new business traveling around to Real Estate Offices across Chicago and the Chicago Suburbs speaking about staying safe while practicing their professions. His rules should apply to showing home sellers as well.
His suggestions as reported by Chicago Tribune Real Estate Reporter Mary Ellen Podmolik in last Friday’s Chicago Tribune –
– Realtors or home sellers should ask all Open House visitors to sign in with legitimate ID information. He also suggests asking for a Drivers License or Similar Photo Identification. This might put off some real prospective homebuyers but it is also likely to scare away a non-buyer with nefarious intentions.
– Sellers should take care not to leave personal information in plain sight. This would include not only banking statements but also prescription medication bottles extra house keys even that month-at-a-glance calendar with upcoming vacation days clearly highlighted. Identity Theft could spring from carelessness here at worst and an unwanted visit while you and your family is away on vacation is possible as well.
– Real Estate Agents should not allow the prospective buyer to drive you in their car – following the buyer to the home in your own ride is much safer.
– Both sellers and agents should avoid showing any prospective home visitor secluded rooms in the house alone – such as basements and outbuildings or sheds.
– Realtors should provide a duplicate showing itinerary to their Office Receptionist Office Manager or other trusted Real Estate Colleague before beginning home showings – just in case!
All common sense . . . yes?
But I imagine we would not be surprised by how few actually follow this common-sense behavior.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO
