REALTOR® Safety is a serious topic

Hopefully, on-the-job safety isn’t an issue you’ve had to deal with directly during your career as a REALTOR® or appraiser. Heck, I hope it isn’t something any professional ever has to deal with.

Unfortunately, though, REALTORS® do have to deal with this issue because there are dangers and risks that go hand-in-hand with the real estate profession. REALTORS® are commonly harassed, subjected to unwanted e-mails and phone calls, and sometimes much worse. It’s extremely rare that more violent attacks like robbery, rape or murder occur, but it happens.

We don’t have to look any further than our own Kelly Brewer, a REALTOR® from Kalamazoo (see page 20). Her story, although horrific, is one of survival, luck, determination and the instincts that come with having just a few safety classes, or simply reading safety tips in magazines like this.

Thankfully, Kelly can tell us firsthand what happened. Others aren’t so lucky. Consider these stories:

• In North Carolina, real estate agent Frank Lama was shot and killed when he tried to evict a 58-year-old man from a home in June 2003.
• In Georgia, a Dunwoody man faces the death penalty after being indicted February 12, 2004, in the November 3, 2003, slayings of two Cobb County real estate agents in a Powder Springs model home. A Cobb grand jury returned murder indictments against 30-year-old parolee Stacey Ian Humphreys in the slayings of Cynthia Williams and her Morrison Homes co-worker, Lori K. Brown. Williams, 33, was shot twice and apparently strangled; Brown, 21, was shot once, police said.
• In Illinois, Decatur REALTOR® Sherry Lewis, 30, was found murdered seven hours after she left to show a vacant house on the city’s northeast side. The local paper reported that Lewis had fought with her killer and was apparently strangled with bare hands.

Simply put, you are at a risk every single time you show a house, business or vacant lot in an unfamiliar, isolated location and meet with potential clients, who are almost always strangers. It is imperative to know the risks and take steps to be as prepared as possible.

Nearly every member service and activity the Michigan Association of REALTORS® conducts on behalf of its members is aimed at helping members prosper, either professionally and/or personally. Your safety on the job is no exception.

It is an important member service and one MAR wants to bring to the forefront.
In addition to the National Association of REALTORS® REALTOR® Safety Week, which runs from September 12 — 18, MAR encourages all members to read this special issue of Michigan REALTOR® magazine, visit MAR’s newly redesigned Web site that features an entire section dedicated to safety issues, and attend at least one self-defense class, either locally or at Freeze Frame 2004: REALTORS® Are the Fashion! the state’s convention and expo held later this month (September 19 — 21).

It’s our wish that members keep this issue of the magazine close at hand, and review it throughout the year, because there are tips that can save lives. It is intended as a resource to design safety programs, or, at the very least, raise discussion.

Every member should utilize the tips within these pages to work in a safe manner, even if your company does not have a formal safety program. Men and women are equally at risk, so, please, don’t think it can’t happen to you because it can.