Darien Board of Realtors Says Safety Training Is an Urgent Need for Agents

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Real estate agents can be in pretty vulnerable situations with clients and potential clients in empty homes, so the Darien Board of Realtors has a mandatory safety program for its members and other realtors in nearby communities.

Realtor safety can be a life or death situation, with more than 200 homicides of real estate agents since 2008, the board said in a recent announcement to members.

On April 3, Members of the Darien Board of Realtors have a mandatory three-hour safety presentation at The Waters Edge at Giovanni’s. Realtors from nearby communities also have been invited.

The announcement said:

  • We at the Darien Board of Realtors care deeply about the safety of our members and their clients and for the past three years have implemented a mandatory Realtor Safety program, not only for Darien Realtors, but we’ve opened this important class up to surrounding towns as well. Educating our members — and their clients — about mandatory safety precautions that should be put in place is of the utmost importance to us at the Darien Board of Realtors.
  • This April, 3, our presenter is David Sherwood, of Sherwood Home Inspections. David is a certified National Association of Realtors realtor safety instructor and will be discussing policies that should be integrated into brokerage and board new-member orientations as well as Internet safety and cyber-security issues.

Here’s more from the announcement:

Thomas Grimes, president of NY Finest Speakers, said the numbers from the U.S. Bureau  of Labor Statistics show that there have been 205 homicides of real estate agents since 2008, which is not insubstantial.

Since becoming involved in real estate agent safety training, the former detective said he has found agents, as a group, to be trusting, caring people — similar to those in the nursing industry.

That personality trait can work against them when it comes to their own personal safety, he said. They always expect the best outcome.

Instinct, policy and planning are three main things for agents to remember as they go about their day, and instincts should come first. He remembers meeting an 80-year-old woman agent in Connecticut as he did a talk on agent safety.

She told him afterward that she was attacked 40 years ago by her best client. She had helped the family buy two houses and she was helping them with their third transaction in five years.

She had always shown the husband and his wife through homes, but this time the husband called her and said: “It’s just you and me house-hunting.” The hair rose on the back of her neck.

At the first home, he sexually assaulted her — and until she spoke to Grimes, she had never told anyone about the attack.

She said: “I kept it inside me for 40 years.” She wanted to scream to the other agents at the event to listen to their instincts.

 

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