A Matter of Life and . . .

One of the most disturbing headlines that I have read this year was this one.

REALTORS® re-examine safety policies after shooting

As I read the details of the danger and the resulting loss of life that recently occurred in Iowa I cannot believe that our industry has not reFreshed its policies for exposing properties to the public.

This should have been done years ago.

In contrast, other industries have established firm and logical policies that deal with providing open access to valued things to the public.

Here in Newport Beach, more than 5 years ago, an automobile salesperson took a stranger for a test drive in an expensive sedan.  As the salesperson walked around the vehicle to exchange places with the stranger on the test drive, the stranger locked the doors and took off with the car.  Never to be seen again.

Fortunately the loss was only the car and there was no loss of life but point made.

Since that time, the dealer has mandated a policy that all those that want a test drive must first surrender their driver's license and the dealer makes a copy BEFORE the test drive.

For years, millions of open houses have been conducted in our business offering literally unlimited access to personal property with little or no supervision.  In addition, millions of showings have occurred whereby unescorted agents have arranged to meet total strangers at properties.  Not to mention the millions of times that an agent has previewed a vacant property with no idea of who or what they might find "lurking in the wings".

So what should we do?

I think it is way past the time for our industry to turn up the heat on the security practices involved in everything we do that faces the public.

Here's a short list that I hope causes someone out there to rethink and refresh their current showing and open house policies.

• No solo showings of any kind are permitted at anytime
• Consumers must show their ID and meet at the office to see a property
• All open house guests must register and show an ID
• No solo listing presentations are permitted at anytime 

I know, I can hear it now. 

But Ken!  It would be impossible to enforce these type of policies!  We might lose the opportunity to sell a home, we might turn away an open house visitor, it would be a real problem having two agents at every listing presentation and no one is going to present their ID to see real estate!

Really.

If you stop and think about it in most cases when you ask for permission to fly on an airline, use your credit card for a purchase, or even get into a favorite  night club you are required to show an ID.  If you really want to do any of these things you gladly surrender your ID - mostly because without doing so you don't get what you want.

Forgotten or unpracticed security measures in any business have direct consequences.  In the case of real estate the consequences involve much more than taking a flight, making a purchase or having a night on the town - they are literally a matter of life and death.

So you decide.  Or better yet before another tragic incident like the one that occurred recently in Iowa - if you can't - someone else should.