Putting a Face on Real Estate since 1995™
in this issue… • KB Home REALTOR Safety Class • WCREALTORS Salsa Contest • Highland Homes Grand Opening at Wildhorse Ranch • Advanced Marketing Strategies w/ Mark Hairston • & much, much more! TM
OCTOBER 2018 • VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 6
REALTOR safety can hinge on whether you can spot the predator By Riki Markowitz
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n 2010, San Antonio REALTOR Janice Tisdale was having a typical workday and an appointment with a potential buyer and, supposedly, his banker. The house was in an upscale neighborhood with a $750,000 price tag. Instead of a walking away with a commission, Tisdale barely escaped with her life.
Unfortunately, this is a very common fear for real estate professionals. As one may easily assume, REALTORS are ripe for being a crime victim since one of the main components of the job is meeting with strangers in empty homes. Over the past few years, app developers have created all sorts of tools agents can use to help ensure their safety. Self-defense schools advertise martial arts classes for agents, and agents even appear on local news programs touting the importance of carrying weapons from Tasers to pepper spray and guns. And still, just 12 percent of female and 25 percent of male REALTORS say they carry a gun, according to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). Yet the numbers of crime and potential crime victims do not seem to budge much and the fear of becoming a victim is as high as ever. The key to REALTOR safety is much more behavioral than buffing up or carrying a weapon. After all, if you need to put someone in a headlock or aim your taser, you’re already deeply in danger. The crop of apps that have debuted over the past few years can be similarly as impotent. The possible outcomes when an agent taps an alarm button on their smartphone alerting co-workers or law en-
Featured Event Oct. 25 & Nov. 1 Parade of Homes™ REALTOR Days
forcement that something is off are 1: Help will arrive in, hopefully, 10 to 30 minutes, or 2: When someone does arrive, your quirky but non-violent client fires you (and maybe even tells his network about the incident). Thanks to the extensive research of repeat violent offenders, including interviews conducted by Lee Goldstein, CEO of Real Safe Agent, we know a lot more about potential attackers. For instance, we know that this type of crime is not impulsive. Not only do perpetrators plan their crimes with precision, but they also get away with many offenses before they get caught. Even after a run-in or two with law enforcement, the standards for placing someone
on a criminal database can be high — at least from the point of view of potential victims. A study of nearly 1,900 undetected and selfreported sexual assault predators found that most “raped more than once” and were also likely to commit other violent offenses. “Repeat rapists each committed an average of six rapes and/or attempted rapes,” plus 14 violent acts. According to Goldstein, one individual he interviewed committed rape 23 times before he was arrested for the first time. To be clear, the violent predators featured in a lot of the research out there do not only target real estate agents. Anecdotally, however,
Front Page: Continued on page 20
Features of the Month Column: ABoR—ABoR is Busy this Fall Working for YOU! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 3 Column: WCREALTORS—Building Strong Respectful REALTOR Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 7 Column: HBA—What Makes Up the Cost of Building a New Home? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 12 Column: Women's Council of REALTORS—REALTOR Safety: Don't Get Caught Off Guard. . . . . . . pg. 18 Column: RRC—Texas Bucks National Trend for Increased E&O Insurance Costs. . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 22 Associates in Progress: Freedom 512 Real Estate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 25 Expert Commentary: What's In a Credit Score? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 28 Expert Commentary: Impair vs. Empower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 32 Upcoming Events & Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 33 News & Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg. 34