Stay Safe on the Job

As a real estate professional, your job can put you in risky situations. Being aware of potential threats and taking the necessary precautions will help you make it home safely.

Texas REALTOR® magazine asked members to share a time in their real estate career when they felt their safety was threatened and how they dealt with it.

Answers have been edited for space and clarity.

Something Seem Off? Trust Your Gut

Do you have an emergency plan if something goes awry? Marion Suggs, an agent with Smart Group, REALTORS®, San Antonio, went to a vacant house to take a series of videos for an investor. She noticed the door was partially open, but the lockbox wasn’t. Inside, she saw large holes in the floor. Since the home had a pier and beam foundation, someone could easily crawl through. Suggs went back to her car and immediately contacted the selling agent. Soon after, she saw someone running out the back door.

Suggs has learned to be extremely cautious when showing distressed or vacant properties. She will leave and contact the selling agent if the door isn’t secure when she arrives. “Make sure you always have a plan to get out if something happens,” she says. “Like I tell my children, always think ahead for the ‘what if.’”

Stacey Stidham, a buyer’s agent with Keller Williams Realty Northeast, Houston, brought an investor client to a home that was listed as vacant. During the tour of the home, they noticed a pair of men’s shoes in the middle of the living room floor, an air fryer in the empty kitchen, and eight unopened beers on the patio. They promptly left.

Afterward, she left a message for the listing agent to let him know there was possibly a squatter and that the back door was unlocked. While she never heard back from the agent, the home was withdrawn a few days later.

In another instance, Stidham viewed a listing that had a broken garage door that made it possible for anyone to walk right into the home. “I will no longer show vacant homes that I can’t see in the windows or that have easy access inside,” she says.

She has since installed the Life360 tracking app, letting her send a silent alert if she is in danger and allowing her husband to locate her during a showing.

Faced With Danger? Stay Calm and Protect Yourself

What would you do if you encountered a trespasser? When Wafiq Alalawi, an agent with Realty Austin, noticed the door to his vacant listing was damaged, he pushed on the door to see if it was open, only to have someone push back from the inside. Alalawi promptly moved away from the door and called 911.

As the intruder charged him, Alalawi tried his best to remain calm. “While on the phone with the police, I had no choice but to draw my weapon and stand my ground,” he says. The intruder immediately backed off at the sight of the weapon and Alalawi’s verbal warnings to stop and not come any closer. The police arrived quickly and arrested the intruder nearby.

Drawing from his license-to-carry class, Alalawi warns others that you shouldn’t try and be a hero. “A gun is a last resort to protect yourself,” he says. “In hindsight, and if this happens again, the best thing for me to do would be to first get to safety, like my car, and lock the door before calling 911.”

Practicing the adage that there is safety in numbers, Linda Botello, an agent with Horizon Realty, Austin, brought a friend to her open house and introduced herself to the neighbors on each side and across the street. When she retrieved the signs after the open house, a gentleman acting like an appraiser pulled around the back.

“He started asking directions and questions about square footage that did not add up,” Botello says. “I displayed the knife I used to remove the balloons and went along with his story.”

She feels lucky that he didn’t try to attack them and that everything turned out fine.

Botello reminds other agents to ask the neighbors to check on them during an open house and never to do an open house alone. “Even if you have a weapon, it can be taken from you.” Instead, she believes it’s helpful to have an alert app on your phone to call for help. She also adds that she will never stay in the house when a man walks in alone. “I tell him I’ll be right back, then sit in my car and take a picture of his license plate.”

It’s always a good idea to ensure your cellphone will be in range and is fully charged. However, there are times where service is spotty, or in Cindy Billman’s case, a broker of Silver Keys Realty, Grapevine, cell phones didn’t exist yet. She was beginning to lock up after an open house when she noticed two men approaching the house. “They both wore long black coats and black fedoras that shielded their eyes,” she says.

Since she was alone and did not have a phone, she ran to the garage and grabbed a can of wasp spray she had seen earlier. She stayed outside the patio door when the men walked in.

“I politely told them to look around and let me know if they had any questions.” She watched the men go through the house like they were looking for something.

While she was able to think quickly on her feet, Billman says she now invites another agent, loan officer, and sometimes her husband to sit with her. Another technique she uses to avoid getting caught alone is to never follow someone upstairs. If the person says they must show her something, she will tell them she cannot climb the stairs due to an injury.