With the arrest of a suspect believed to have robbed agents and homeowners during showings in her county and other counties nearby, one association leader in Florida is making it a personal campaign to raise safety awareness among Realtors.

The problem is, she's not sure many are listening yet, but she's not going to let that slow her down.

"My job as an owner/broker is I'm using all the tools I can through NAR, FAR, safety expert Robert Siciliano, and any other sources that help us," says Janet Helms, broker/owner of Realty Executives Space Coast Realtors in Melbourne, Florida. "And I remind them (agents) 'Don't forget your safety tips!' so they can take care of themselves."

But Helms laments that especially in a competitive market, agents are fearful of losing any edge they may have with a prospect by slowing down long enough to get information, verify the information and prequalify the prospect with a lender.

"They prefer to form a personal bond with prospects," says Helms, "so they don't lose them. We do get lax and when things don't happen, we get lazy and forget that things can happen."

Helms is the new education director (director of professional development) for her local Realtor association. She wants to drill agents to remember safety procedures so that they never get lax.

"As education director," says Helms, "I want safeguards for new agents coming in. We did have a police officer make a presentation to new agents at orientation, and some of the offices have gotten a police officer to come to their offices in person. We are using the NAR safety video and safety kit, and we are now showing that video at every orientation. For existing agents, we are getting out the word to offices that they need safety programs. I belong to the Women's Council of Realtors and they had a presentation, and in our office, we are trying to get Robert Siciliano to come to Realty Executives in March. In the meantime we have produced some of his materials."

"We are encouraging everyone to meet clients at the office," she continues, "and to have the clients fill out in their own handwriting who they are (addresses, spouses, etc.) and what their needs are and what they are looking for, and we ask for identification - a picture ID. We are asking our agents to make a copy of the picture ID and put it on that piece of paper and leave that with a list of houses that are going to be shown. We are getting great response from buyers - they don't mind. They understand it is a safety issue."

Helms stresses, "You can't discriminate - this is a policy for everyone," she says. "We work in this office heavily by referral, and I'm asking our referred clients to do it, too."

She doesn't want a repeat of what happened to two agents and a client in her area.

A suspect named Richard Pate was arrested on August 12, in Flagler County, Florida and charged with two counts of robbery, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of grand theft. His alleged "MO" was finding properties that he wanted to see, and then calling the agent or property owner and asking for a showing. He would then rob the women at gunpoint. Two of the Realtors that Pate is suspected of robbing are members of Helms's association.

"He looked at big houses and the Realtors who show big houses are more successful," she notes. "He assumed that they would have money and jewelry on them."

She explains, "From what I can gather from what happened here and other places, this guy had a knack for making the agents feel comfortable. He was friendly and down to earth. Mary (not the agent's real name) is very respected and schooled in real estate, and he took his family - other people, wife and kids - on the first day of showings. And then he came back and wanted to go back and meet her at one of the houses, and that is when he pulled a trick. She laid the keys to the house down on the counter, and when she went to lock up the key to the house was missing. She called the listing agent and he went outside and when he came back in, he had a gun. Another agent came in to show the house with a buyer and he grabbed her and the customer, and robbed all of them. He forced one of the agents to give him her MLS access code (to get into the MLS lockboxes) and the lockbox key, which created a safety issue with everybody. The MLS was able to stop access to the lockboxes from being used. He didn't go to any other houses after obtaining the code. He wouldn't have known how long it was going to be active."

Pate is a suspect for similar crimes in other counties in Florida and in Georgia.

If any of the Realtors had bothered to include Pate's car in their information-gathering, points out Helms, they would have noted his Georgia license plate numbers, and "some of these robberies could have been prevented because the police would have been able to find him sooner, she says.

The license number could have also been useful to circulate among associations. A drawing of the suspect was circulated and may have prevented others from being robbed.

"We had one sketch of him when he first came here and then we got another sketch where his weight went from 250 to 350 pounds. One sketch had combed hair and the other disheveled hair. We don't know if this is true, but it was reported locally that last week he was seen in two local real state offices. Now lots of guys started looking like the drawings. In one case he wanted to look at homes immediately, and the agent refused to leave the office. In the other case, he walked in the door and he left abruptly, and they really realized that the sketch was in the lobby. We had it on our desk. I made up a flier for executives to give to for-sale-by-owners."

Another issue Helms would like to tackle is what she calls poor communication between the associations that might have prevented the kidnapping and robberies of agents in her area.

"We belong to two boards, and there are two local associations in Brevard County," explains Helms. The Space Coast is a long county. Our association had trouble getting information from surrounding counties. If a perpetrator is in a surrounding area, we want to know. By the time we get the information, it is the next day or two days later. We need to alert nearby associations, and let the associations alert the brokers and then they can contact their agents."

Helms also recommends an alert code. If an agent is in trouble and is able to call into the office, she can ask for a "red" folder and give the address where she is located to alert staff that she needs immediate help.

"We are a whole lot more careful now," says Helms, "we are very leery and we are reminding everybody. I have agents who work out of their homes, and I can't control what they do, but I can encourage them to send a copy of what they are planning to show to the office.

"It used to be that Realtors took on prequalification, and now there are lenders everywhere. We try to get them prequalified before they come to the office, so at least you know that they've had a conversation with a lender, but the average Realtor would take them out anyway. It is fast-moving business and consumers have so many options, that many Realtors want to develop a relationship to get them hooked to you, but you have to have conversations to determine if they are real. I like to bring them to the office, and have them fill out the form in their own handwriting and have them talk to a lender before getting in the car, but it doesn't always work that way."

Editor's note: Mobile Callback, a member of the Realtor VIP program, provides a monitoring service that allows Realtors to call in showing information, their location, information about the prospect including license plate number, and when the Realtor would like to be called by the service to assure the Realtor's safety while in the field. The system allows up to three numbers (office, spouse, partner, etc.) the Realtor would like the service to call in case s/he is unable to respond to monitoring calls.

Published: August 15, 2003

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