Recently, a realtor in the Gulf of Northern California was worn out and almost killed. She received a few calls from a “potential buyer,” making appointments to see a particular house. Each time he canceled the appointment with a plausible excuse. The fourth time he called, told the realtor that he was next door, and asked her to meet him at the house. She arrived in front of the “buyer”, and when the “buyer” entered the residence, he immediately grabbed the realtor by the throat and began to choke. She fought with him, and he stopped choking on her and began to rape her. After the rape, she again began to strangle her. She managed to take her hands off her throat and started talking to him.
She gained trust and found out that he was recently released from prison and was unable to find work. She told him that she could find a job for him, and he let her call someone to talk about a possible job opening. Then he left, and after a couple of days he called the realtor about work. She arranged for him to meet, which he held, as did the police. He was arrested and hopefully returned to the prison where he belongs.
This realtor is very lucky to be alive. Very rarely someone who wants to kill you can be made from this. Most of the time, it ends in tragedy for the victim, as in the recent killing of a real estate agent in Texas from parole.
Real estate agents are particularly vulnerable to predator attacks. When interrogated by the police of a rape suspect in the Bay area, they were asked why he had chosen a real estate agent to attack. He said that a prisoner told him that the agents had cars, money, and they were alone in the house, which made them easy to choose.
There are several things agents can do to protect themselves:
* Ask a potential buyer to meet with you in your office, NOT ON REAL ESTATE, preferably with colleagues present and NOT close the closing time. Get identification from the buyer in the form of a driver's license and license number for their car. Leave this information to the person in charge at your office and tell them where you are going.
* If possible, ask someone to go with you to the show and make them wait in the car with a mobile phone. The best scenario is to go to the show in two different cars, but if this is not possible, try to be a driver. This will give you an advantage.
* Always bring a person to a residence or room in front of you. Never lay your back on a person or allow yourself to go into a corner.
* Have the phone number of the police area on the speed dial on your mobile phone.
* MUST NOT BE FULLY in the false sense of security of the female “buyer”. There are more and more cases of using women to create brigands and even rape.
* Always follow your gut feelings. If something doesn't seem right, pass it on.
* When in your office at night only at night, make sure that the doors are locked, preferably using pins, prepare the blinds and DO NOT open the door to anyone you do not know well enough to trust.
* It is very important that your mind is tuned and ready to respond when absolutely necessary. Think of all the vulnerable positions you might be in, and think about what you would have done if someone tried to attack you. Play the script over and over again, so that if it were ever to happen, you would react automatically and quickly, and not to hang or panic.
* Bring a self-defense product with you, prepare it and learn how to use it without hesitation.
At least every realtor should wear pepper spray. A pepper spray can be transported very discreetly and would be ready if necessary. The use of this product should allow the realtor to get away from the predator without confrontation. In the event that an attacker gets into the near range, perhaps the C2 Taser stun gun / taser would be a good choice. Pretender 950,000 volts cell phone stuns the gun looks like a cell phone camera, but can temporarily disable the attacker, giving the realtor time to escape and call the police.
The key to not becoming a victim is the awareness of your situation at all times, being mentally and physically prepared to protect yourself, as well as an element of surprise on your side with the product of self-defense. Just pretended to be a gazelle in a watering place, constantly looking for a real predator.
