Making an appointment with a stranger and then going alone to meet the person in empty houses is a daily routine for the more than 150,000 real estate agents and brokers, and CNBC reports that close to 38% of agents say they fear for their personal safety. Among female agents, the number jumps to near 50%, according to a 2017 survey by the National Association of Realtors.
Typically, the most common fear-inducing situations are open houses, vacant or model home showings, properties that were unlocked or unsecured, and properties in remote areas. Add a new danger: drug addicts.
The nation’s opioid crisis has put some real estate agents, especially those who represent higher-end properties, in the crosshairs. Addicts are posing as potential homebuyers and booking house tours in order to get access to medicine cabinets.
But a company called Forewarn—a subsidiary of data and analytics firm Cogint—is a offering an app that performs instant background checks on potential clients, similar to a police report.
The company says it can instantly analyze billions of data points, using just a client’s name or phone number. Cogint already provides similar information to law enforcement, government and insurance carriers.
In other news, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has joined 43 state attorney generals in demanding the repeal of a 2016 federal law that stripped the Drug Enforcement Administration of the power to freeze suspicious narcotics shipments—a powerful weapon used to prevent the misuse of prescription drugs.
