Real Estate
Kajal Patel
Real Estate Broker in charge/ Owner at Open Doors Realty" A leader and serve the community with all their real estate needs!
For Agents:
OVERVIEW
The real estate industry has undergone dramatic changes in the past 50 years. It has seen radically new business models and practices come about every 15-20 years. Unfortunately, real estate agent safety has NOT changed.
The same policies and practices developed by people with no crime prevention experience 50 years ago have been repeatedly recycled without ever asking key questions:
This book answers these questions and more. We will start with an examination of how the industry has handled crime against agents and the impact of the mistakes it made, go in- depth into the nature of crime against agents, the offenders, safety products, what agents should be learning, behavioral and cultural change, and a plethora of other topics.
There are those who will read this far in the book and read no further because they believe existing “industry standard practices” are enough. For the most part they are not. For example, “Let the office know where you’re going and what
4
Safe Selling OVERVIEW
time you’ll be back” ... Does this keep you safe, or tell the office where to start looking for you? Keeping the office informed is a good practice but it DOES NOT keep you safe.
This book lays out a new approach, based in behavioral science and criminology, for preventing crime against agents.
No products will be mentioned or endorsed in this book.
5
Safe Selling THE INDUSTRY’S MISTAKES AND THE CONSEQUENCES
THE INDUSTRY’S MISTAKES AND THE CONSEQUENCES
The real estate industry’s attempts at improving safety have been largely ineffective over the years. The reason for this ineffectiveness is that the industry made 3 critical errors in dealing with crime against agents:
Mistake 1 - An Inaccurate Assumption
The industry made an inaccurate assumption about the nature of crime against agents. It assumed that crimes against agents were similar to opportunistic street crimes. With rare exception, crime against agents is predatory crime and meets all the classic predatory behavior patterns. To reinforce this point, consider what someone must do to attack a real estate agent:
6 Safe Selling THE INDUSTRY’S MISTAKES AND THE CONSEQUENCES
The predator must make an attack.
Clearly, these are not opportunistic crimes committed by impulsive criminals. Additionally, for the overwhelming majority of predators, this is an obsessive-compulsive behavior pattern, quite literally an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The effects of making an inaccurate assumption about the nature of crime against agents have been devastating, particularly in the area of safety training. With one notable exception, the safety training for the real estate industry is based in situational awareness training. Situational awareness focuses primarily on being aware of the impact of your environment or surroundings on your present situation. Situational awareness training was originally designed for combat operators and then adopted for police. It was later scaled down, simplified, and taught to the general public to help them avoid being victims of opportunistic street crime, where your environment and surroundings have the greatest impact and provide the means and opportunity for the crime. However, crime against agents is predatory crime and situational awareness does not address issues and topics pertinent to preventing predatory crime specific to the real estate industry.
Furthermore, as a result being taught that crime against agents was like opportunistic street crime, many agents assumed that the people committing those crimes were similar to the types of
7
Safe Selling THE INDUSTRY’S MISTAKES AND THE CONSEQUENCES
individuals we associate with street crime. However, those are not the people committing crimes against real estate agents.
The overwhelming majority of attacks on agents are committed by white men between the ages of 30-55, who are middle to upper middle class, are typically employed as either white collar or professional trade and are typically in a long-term relationship. This profile further reinforces the nature of crime against agents considering that it’s the typical profile for a predator. The net effect of the industry’s error has made it easier for predators to attack agents, because the very nature of the predator’s profile sets the agent at ease and makes it easier for the predator to make an attack.
Another byproduct of this mistake has been the teaching that if an agent meets the prospect at the office and gets a copy of the driver’s license, this will keep the agent safe. Due to the obsessive-compulsive nature of predatory behavior patterns and high rate of unreported crimes against agents, this practice DOES NOT deter a predator or prevent a crime. Every year there are agents who have been attacked despite meeting the prospect at the office and obtaining a picture of the prospect’s driver’s license. To be clear, this is not a bad practice, however it should NEVER be used as a measure of safety with a prospect.
8
Safe Selling THE INDUSTRY’S MISTAKES AND THE CONSEQUENCES
Mistake 2 - A Limited Approach
The second major mistake the industry made was taking a limited approach. The industry saw every agent as a lone entity and operated under the paradigm that anything can happen to any agent on any day. This may be a true statement, however, if this is the approach that is taken, there is no way to prevent crime from occurring. It is only possible to report the crime after it has occurred or is so imminent that nothing can be done to prevent it. The ONLY way to prevent predatory crime is to adopt a paradigm of cooperation and collaboration.
This siloed approach has guided two very ineffective types of products into the hands of agents; personal safety apps and instant background check products. Neither of these solutions are effective at preventing the crime from occurring. Personal Safety Apps are by their very nature reactive and not proactive. Instant Background Checks are proactive. However, between errors, unreported crimes, and other issues, the overwhelming majority of results are unreliable. Additionally, considering that US courts have ruled that criminal background checks are inherently discriminatory, their use presents risks in the practice of real estate. The issues surrounding Personal Safety Apps and Criminal Background Checks will be discussed at length later in this document.
The other negative effect of taking this siloed approach is that the industry made it substantially easier for predators to “hunt”
9
Safe Selling
领英推荐
THE INDUSTRY’S MISTAKES AND THE CONSEQUENCES
in an area. Predators always meet with multiple agents prior to making an attack. The industry also made it easier for predators to hunt by not adopting a safety paradigm of cooperation and collaboration.
Mistake 3 - A Minimal Change Model
The third and final major mistake the industry made when trying to improve safety was using a minimal change model. The industry attempted to influence agent behavior and culture through public information campaigns. Public information campaigns inform, but they do not change behavior. Changing behavior requires positive reinforcement and making those changes permanent requires changing culture. The National Association of REALTORSO? did a brilliant job using these principles to make RPAC one of the most (if not the most) prominent features in the industry culture.
The primary damaging effect as a result of the industry’s adoption of a minimal change model has been a reactive attitude toward safety. When there is a high-profile crime against an agent, the efforts to influence safety rise and some agents increase the frequency of safety efforts. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter habits return to the status quo until the next high-profile assault, rape, or murder.
We can use the same techniques used to influence behavior and culture as it related to political fundraising to bring about
10
Safe Selling THE INDUSTRY’S MISTAKES AND THE CONSEQUENCES
permanent, meaningful change as it relates to safety in the industry culture.
That being said, it’s up to each agent to promote these cultural changes inside their local association, state association, and national association. Crime against agents is almost entirely preventable, but only if agents are taught the correct information, adopt that information individually, and the industry makes the cultural changes needed to place the same level of importance on safety as it does on other more prominent areas of concentration.
11
Safe Selling UNDERSTANDING CRIME AGAINST AGENTS
UNDERSTANDING CRIME AGAINST AGENTS
As an agent, it’s important for you to have an understanding of the primary types of criminals you are likely to experience, as well as the criminal’s pathologies and patterns. By taking the time to understand crime and criminals, you are better able to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies, tactics, products, polices, etc. Previously, a lack of understanding of the crimes committed against agents and the people who commit those crimes, as well as a number of incorrect assumptions, has led to a slew of ineffective education, policies, practices, and products.
The chart above lists the primary characteristics of predators and thieves, the types of criminals you are most likely to
12
Safe Selling
UNDERSTANDING CRIME AGAINST AGENTS
encounter in your capacity as a real estate agent. Although this document will cover thieves, our main focus will be on predators and how they function.
Predators vs. Thieves
A thief’s primary motive is profit, and there is no emotional component to the crime. The obvious exception to this is kleptomania, however, this document will not delve that deeply into the subject of thieves. As a result of the fact that thieves’ motive is profit and there is no emotional component to their crime, they make their decisions the same way any business person decides. Thieves make their decisions based on potential gain vs. potential risk. The higher the perceived potential gain and/or lower the perceived potential risk, the more attractive the target and situation is to the thief; conversely, the lower the perceived potential gain or the higher the perceived potential risk, the less attractive the target and situation is to the thief.
By far the most common type of thief an agent is likely to run in to is someone who is going to steal property from the showing or open house or use the showing or open house as a way to “case” the house as part of preparations for a burglary. One of the most important characteristics about thieves you need to remember is the environment the thief needs in order to commit the crime; a thief needs to be isolated where he/she cannot be seen or heard in order to commit the crime. This is why thieves are more likely to be found at open houses.
13
Safe Selling UNDERSTANDING CRIME AGAINST AGENTS
Just as a thief needs to be isolated where he/she cannot be seen or heard, a predator needs to get the victim isolated where the victim cannot be seen or heard. This is why showings are much more dangerous than open houses, despite the common misperception that the opposite is true. A showing is much more conducive to a predator getting the victim isolated and open houses are much more conducive to a thief being isolated.
Predators are a very different animal than thieves. A predator’s motive is power and control and there is an emotional component to their crime and all the activities that lead up to their crime. For a predator, their crime and all the activities that lead up to their crime are part of an obsessive-compulsive cycle. They make their decisions to fill an emotional need, they actually get a “high” off each activity involved in their cycle. Their behavior is similar to that of a binge alcoholic, “getting the high” is what’s important and they will do anything that helps them achieve that high. Remember that a predator needs to get the victim isolated where he or she can’t be seen or heard in order to commit the crime. It’s much easier to do this if the agent is feeling comfortable and confident with the predator. This is why meeting at the office and getting a copy of a driver’s license does not deter a predator or prevent the crime. To the predator this is an opportunity to gain the trust and confidence of the victim. Furthermore, because 80% of crimes against agents go unreported and a typical repeat rapist will have on average 11 victims before he is arrested for any sexually based offense, the predator is not that worried about the potential victim knowing his identity. In many cases
14
Safe Selling UNDERSTANDING CRIME AGAINST AGENTS
where the victim got the driver’s license of the predator, the predator provided his actual license.
Since a predator’s motive is power and control, he is attracted to weakness, subservience, and vulnerability. Exercising power and control over another person is how the predator achieves the high, so it’s perfectly logical that weakness, subservience, and vulnerability would attract them. This is why being dominant can deter a predator and one type of smile versus another can make the agent less likely to be targeted by a predator.
The Offender Cycle
Earlier we mentioned that a predator’s crime and all the activities that lead up to the crime are part of an obsessive- compulsive cycle. This cycle is known as the Offender Cycle. It’s important to understand that most people have seen this cycle before in friends and family that are alcoholics, particularly binge alcoholics. An alcoholic will stop drinking for a time before a trigger of some kind will occur – this event could be external such a bad day at work, a fight with a significant other, etc. or could be purely internal. This trigger will cause stress and start the obsessive-compulsive pattern. To relieve the stress and remove the obsessive thoughts they will start drinking. They may start with one drink a day for a week. They say “well, I can have one drink, that will be okay”
15
Safe Selling UNDERSTANDING CRIME AGAINST AGENTS
and they can control it to one drink a day for a while. However, at some point one drink is not enough to keep the bad thoughts and feelings at bay. To further compound the issue, the addict starts feeling guilty about drinking again. Then it escalates to three drinks a day, then five drinks a day, and then he/she is passed out every night.
This is the same type of pattern that a predator goes through. They have something happen that triggers the beginning of their cycle, this trigger may be external or internal. The one thing we do know is that it’s almost always associated with feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness. To get the bad thoughts and feelings out of their head they engage in an initial