Would you agree to meet a stranger at a vacant house as night falls? It sounds like something straight out of a scary movie, but it’s a scenario that plays out daily for real estate agents and brokers.
As Business Report details in a feature from its new issue, real estate professionals are in the business of showing property to potential customers—both known and unknown. They openly share their contact information with the public and interact with clients in locations with little security, which repeatedly exposes them to potential dangers.
According to the National Association of Realtors 2015 Member Safety Report, 40% of Realtors have experienced a situation that made them fear for their personal safety or safety of their personal information, and 4% have been a victim of an assault, robbery or identity theft while on the job. A number of Realtors have also been murdered while on the job in recent years, such as the highly publicized 2014 abduction and murder of Arkansas agent Beverly Carter, whose assailant was found guilty in January and sentenced to life without parole.
Dana Patureau, who owns Chateau to Geaux Realty in Baton Rouge and specializes in luxury homes, experienced a similar situation several years ago that prompted her to begin a side business she named Angels of Self-Defense. Patureau was receiving prank calls filled with vulgar statements from a blocked number. When the caller threatened to rape her at her own home, she involved the police and the calls eventually ceased.
“Realtors need to arm themselves,” she says. “I carry mace, two stun guns and a Taser, and I sell them to other Realtors because they also need protection.”
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