Last night, the prime time airing of "Fox Files" included a graphic depiction of the dangers faced by REALTORS® during home showings.

Several agents have been murdered across the country lured to their deaths by the promise of a seller's contract or a showing a home to a prospective buyer.

Inside critics blame the contract labor nature of the industry for the dangers. Realtors don't get paid until something is sold. They work out of their own pockets and are easily tempted by the prospect of a quick sale, especially by an anxious seller or buyer in a hurry.

Despite taking precautions, such as insisting on obtaining a driver's license and an employer's phone number to verify employment before showing a buyer homes, many Realtors still experience tragedy.

Featured in the segment was Joan Malone, an Irving, Texas agent and activist for Realtor safety. Accompanied by gruesome pictures which depicted the savagery of the attack, Malone, now fully recovered, told the story of her attack.

A man who had been in her office before accompanied by his family, came back alone and insisted on being shown houses. Malone felt uneasy and asked him to make an appointment for the next day. She accompanied the man to several homes, not realizing that in one home's kitchen, he had stolen a knife. Asking her to drive him to a home they had seen previously, he attacked her as soon as they walked in the door. Chilling police photos of the blood-stained room where her "buyer" broke her back and slashed her throat, and of Malone bandaged and unconscious in the ICU provided ample illustration that Malone's attacker fully intended to leave her for dead.

She lived through the ordeal, and has gone back to selling homes. In her spare time, she makes herself available to the media to champion agent safety. So far, she has unsuccessfully campaigned Realtor Associations to support her idea of having buyers submit to a criminal background check before being allowed to view homes.

One Realtor who saw the segment, Nora Ling Lane of Dallas, said, "It's one thing to read about it in the papers, and another to see it on TV. The message really hit home. We all need to be more careful. "

Also See the Real Times Special Report originally run on November 10, 1997 - Every REALTORS Nightmare

Published: January 30, 1999

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