Personal thoughts from within the Luxury Real Estate network
By Janice Ridge
In recent years, there have been a growing number of real-estate agents putting themselves in harm’s way by meeting a prospect at a house far away from main roads and neighboring houses. The recent death of Lindsay Buziak, 24, who was killed last weekend while showing a luxury home in Saanich on Vancouver Island, has again reminded us that even in an upscale neighborhood there can be dangerous persons lurking about.
It is important to exercise precautionary measures when selling homes, especially when a stranger wants to view a vacant house at an odd time of day. This is even more important when showing luxury properties. There are more rooms, more grounds and more places for strangers to hide out, especially if the house is far away from the main road or if neighbors are few and far between.
When I started selling homes 15 years ago, I was taught a very important rule: never meet a prospect for the first time at the property. Always ask them to come to the office to meet you first, where there are others around, during office hours. If the prospect is not willing to do this, tell them you are sorry, but this is your rule. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Editor’s Note:
As the the Director of Membership at LuxuryRealEstate.com, and herself a licensed REALTOR®, Janice Ridge is devoted to coordinating the efforts of all of the LuxuryRealEstate.com Membership and Account Managers, so that each of our members is given superior service. Like Janice, I am deeply touched by this sad story of a young real-estate agent being killed while waiting to meet a ‘‘buyer” at the property. I already knew that real-estate relationships are based on trust, but I always looked at it from the perspective of the client. The lesson here is that REALTORS® need to scrutinize prospects as well.
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