Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Because we have some pretty cool things to talk about that I think, Ed, this stuff is stuff that needs to be talked about more frequently. It's, it's, it's important. So first of all, how are you? Did you have a good weekend? A good Easter?
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Very good, man. It was fun. Yeah.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: Dude, there's pictures of your granddaughter, man. I can't get enough of them. I really can't.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Dude, she's killing me, man.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: She is a good looking little baby and she's. I could just tell she's full of personality.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: She.
She's too much, man. She's too cool. I love her.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: I do love it. So. And we were talking off, offline and, and the conversation that real estate agent safety came up. And you know, a lot of times after you hear something in the news, someone gets hurt or worse, the conversation, you know, gets louder and gets elevated. But we don't always have to wait for that to happen before we have the conversation. So I thought today your, you know, your suggestion of, of chatting about realtor safety, I think is, is, is an important one. So, you know, first of all, I guess why don't we start with why are real estate agents and all real estate agents, but especially female real estate agents, why are they so vulnerable?
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Well, a few reasons, and I'll go back to this. About a month ago, it was a really windy day down here. I was riding my bike specifically to go visit open houses.
And I pull into a cul de Zach and there's an open house. And when I walked into the open house, I did not, I wasn't dressed like a professional. I was dressed literally like biker.
And when I walked in, the real estate agent that just happened to be female looked at me like, oh, crap, it's really windy.
This guy is walking and he doesn't, you know, look, you know, like he's a real estate agent or a Floridian.
And, and I just said, hi, I'm just here for a second. And I pulled out one of my business cards just to relax her, but the look on her face was like, oh, my gosh.
So it's something that we don't, don't think about enough, we don't talk about enough, enough brokerages, don't talk about it enough on a consistent basis.
And I think it's more about awareness and just knowing. And this is the. It's not fun to talk about, Ken, because usually we're lively, we're fun, we're loose. But the unfortunate part is there's just some not so nice People out there. And years ago I used to do a training with Kevin Bernard, who was part of the Chester County SWAT team.
And he was phenomenal the way he would deliver his message. And here's the thing, like, a lot of, a lot of people that teach us are like, okay, have pepper spray.
Okay, have this.
It's, it's all in your, like the, the, the brain chemistry that happens when you're scared. If you're not like prepared prepared, you're not going to be able to get the pepper spray. You're not going to be able to get the stuff. So the best way to become a safe realtor is to never put yourself in a position where you need to be a safe realtor, you know, within reason. So we can go over different scenarios.
By the way, I highly recommend a book called the Gift of Fear.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: The Gift of Fear.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And you can even YouTube the gift of Fear and listen for some language patterns that some of these not so nice people do.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it was a really good wake up call.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: So let's talk about what are some situations that real estate agents find themselves in.
And let's literally, let's, let's go through a couple of best practices to ensure your own safety. So, so what do you think is the number one most important thing you do? Then we'll go from there.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: There's a lot. But I, I guess I would start a true story. Unfortunately, years ago in Chester county, agent gets a call. I'm out in front of your listing. Oh my gosh. This is our dream home.
Can you, can you meet us here? My wife's going to meet us here. Yeah, sure. The agent gets there.
By the way, I think that this, the setup was I'm only in town for three or four hours and I'm a cash buyer if I like. We're buying it today.
Agent pops up over there and she literally said, I've talked to her. She literally said as soon as she walked in, she knew she was done. Just her energy, she could feel it. And for about five hours, the worst things that you could ever think of happened to this agent. And so what are some of the things that, that we can do? So the tactical. So let's rewind that. Situation number one. Great. I'd love to show you the house, but since I don't know you and you don't know me, the first thing I'm going to ask you to do right now is take a picture of your license and send it to my.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Number here and think about that for a second, any. Any rational human being is going to respond the way a rational human being would respond to that request. Right? So. So it's not. It's not. It's not an unreasonable request at all. In fact, you could probably go a step further, right?
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Yeah, no. No doubt about it. So let's look at that now. Let's say I'm an egotistical guy. I'm a safe. I'm a safe person, but I'm an egotistical guy. I'm a big shot. What do you mean, send you my license? I've. I've owned 17 properties throughout the United States. Don't you know who I am?
Well, hey, again, by the way, sir, do you have any daughters? By the way, this isn't just about female safety. This is male safety. Female safety. I'm just telling this story. By the way, do you have any daughters, Walt? Of course I would. Would you want them to take an extra step to be safe?
If that's me, I go, you're right. You're right. Here we go. What numbers am I sending this to? Okay, no problem.
So just that alone.
That alone, it would save a lot of problems. And typically, that's the kind of situation that gets people in trouble. It's the rush. It's. And again, let me back up. Kevin Bernard taught me this. And the gift of fear teaches you this.
The person that's calling a real estate agent to set them up, they're not a criminal.
A criminal is someone that wants your wallet, and they're gonna, whatever, pull the gun, say, give me your wallet. You're gonna give them a while, they're going to take off.
These are psychopaths.
They want you to be scared, and they want to watch you suffer. And I know this isn't fun to talk about, man, but. And I even. I don't like talking about it because it takes me to a place that's not. Not really cool. But I sound cliche. Ish. If this saves one real estate agent's life or a bad situation, I'm cool talking about it for 15, 20 minutes. And by the way, this is something like, I'm really passionate about. Thank God. Any of the probably a thousand agents that have been under my leadership, thank God nothing has ever happened to them. But it's something that I always taught. Every quarter.
Every quarter, I would go over it, and the first thing I. I would. I would say is, like, don't think that you can defend yourself, because you probably can't.
Like, so what happens?
Enter the house, something. The, the, the altercation starts. Typically, unless a person is trained, what happens is the cortisol releases from their brain like a massive dump out of their brain. And when it happens, they can't move, they're totally paralyzed, they can't breathe, they can't really see. And you know, there's some techniques that the book suggests to help you be more emotionally prepared.
God forbid a situation happens.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: So number one, verify who you're going to see. Don't, don't just get super excited about the opportunity to make a sale and not, not at least ask the necessary questions to ensure, you know, you're protecting yourself.
What about actually showing a house? Right, I know that, I've heard it. And I'll let you kind of share some of the techniques of never walk into the house first. Always, you know, put a path between you and the door. What are some of the other things that agencies think about as they're, they're, they're actually with people.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Yeah. So again, and number one, I would always say trust your gut. I won't go into it, but we all have a built in a defense mechanism in our body and it has to do with our water. We're all about 75, 80% water. When you get the heebie jeebies, it's because the other person's intent is not good.
Pay attention to that. You get the heebie jeebies, have no problem saying, hey, look the way, for safety reasons, I don't know, you, you can go in and look at the house all you want. I'm gonna be out here.
If you have any questions, let me know.
Again, this is about life or death. This is not to be played around with.
But you know, some of the, some of the. And, and I want to back up again. Like, I'm certainly not a MMA guy, I'm not a great fighter, I'm not a great boxer. But someone that's smaller than me, putting a key between their fingers, thinking that's going to be personal defense if I'm a bad guy, you're going to lose all the time. You're just not going to win. So I want to take away those like, oh, no, I can handle myself. Nah, you can't. You probably can't. So always let them enter the room.
Always leave yourself an out.
You know, the best case scenario is have somebody with you.
Yeah, right. And hey, I never say, I never say I like, like to lie, but great. My partner and I are going to show you the home.
Now another thing is, listen For a story from them. So when they make the call, oh, I want to see this. I'm only in town 4. My wife is going to love the price. This has been a dream of ours, Ken. If you want to. If you want to see a property, you're calling an agent saying, hey, I'm interested on the property. 1, 2, 3 Main Street. Can you.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Why all the additional context?
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Right?
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: And there's a. There's a criminal word for that. I forget what it is. But when, when that happens, let the red flags go up.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: So listen, for a story, verify the identity of people you're meeting. Listings, listing, presentations. Are they less likely to be dangerous situations than showing a house to someone, an empty house to someone you don't know?
What's the difference going to a listing presentation versus a show?
[00:12:56] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good question. They're probably less dangerous because there's probably more. More documentation, more. Something left behind of, oh, wait a minute. Ed's been missing for two days.
Let's, you know, let's check his email to see, you know, but again, when we're dealing with people that just are evil, again, trust your gut.
And again, it doesn't hurt. Like, literally when I would do the seminars in person, God forbid you have to use those that believe in weapons.
Just know, just be trained on how to use them.
[00:13:43] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: Make it legal. Bring it with you. Number two, if you know how to strike and hit, learn where to hit, where to hit hard.
I teach a. And I laugh because I, I just, I get into this and I get pretty intense about it, but more than likely, somebody's going to take a smaller woman to the ground.
I teach, you know, how to use that momentum to bring their. Their, literally their head into them. And it's very simple. This is where it gets a little crazy, but it's very simple to sink your thumb into the corner of the attacker's eye and rip it out. You're not gonna beat him. You're not gonna scratch him to death.
But if you can take a deep breath, focus on his eye. So if he's taking you down, you grab the back of his head and you just focus. It's life or death on the corner of his eye. One knuckle deep and rip. He'll roll off of you and you run.
Run. I've heard stories of people that have done that, and they get. They're so mad that they were attacked that they go after and try to beat the guy up. Now get out. Call the police, man. And I pray To God, not nothing. Ever. You never have to use any of this. Sure, yeah, but the gift of fear tells some stories, but always, always, always, whenever there was an attack, it's 100 of the time, something didn't feel right.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
And, and look, I mean, you know, not for nothing, but why not? Like, why, why show people houses that aren't pre approved for mortgages, for instance?
[00:15:38] Speaker B: Right?
[00:15:39] Speaker A: Like, I know we're buying the house cash, you know, in those situations, but like, the pre approval is just an added layer of, of security as well, because some people, they meet their clients for the first time after they get the pre approval, you know, and at that point, at least there's. There's information on record, you know, regarding their. Who they are and who they say they are and things of that matter. So, yeah, this is not a fun topic, Ed. Right, we know that, but we can't always be jokes and laughs and all. Like, this is serious. And I think it's worth.
I think it's worth our time, and I think it's worth the time anybody listening to. Just stay vigilant, stay safe, trust your.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: Instincts, trust your gut, and like, think about, think about. Nothing is worth your life. So let's just pretend. First of all, you and I can. We're Delco guys. We're fast movers. Like, if a. And I'm just using the female version of this. If a female said, hey, for some reason I feel really uneasy right now, I'm going to go outside, I would be like, oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry. Like, do you want to reschedule? Like, what can I do to make you feel comfortable? Yeah, right. Anything other than that doesn't mean that they're a psychopath, but they're certainly not good. The second thing you could do is, right, you get in there and you feel.
You feel uneasy. Hey, Ken, you know What? I'm gonna FaceTime or I'm gonna do a Facebook Live here to save me some time while you're looking around the house, I'm gonna do a Facebook Live to tour the property or I'm gonna FaceTime my client, who's my broker, my agent, whatever. Right? So again, I'll ask you. I'm the real estate agent.
I walk in, all of a sudden, I look down and I see you've got a butcher knife, you got a gun, and you've got a book hanging out of your pocket that says how to be a psychopath. And I go, oh, crap, I'm in here. Now what do I do?
Right. I pull out the phone and I say, hey, I'm just going to do a quick Facebook live here. I always do my stuff live for marketing purposes. I'm not even going to say, do you mind just going to start doing it.
Right. I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't care.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I also, I also heard one of, you know, one of the tactics, you know, if, if, if you, you sense that you're in a bad place, make up a reason to make a call and you're, you or people at your office should have a very distinct code word.
The one that I heard was, you know, it's, it's in the purple folder. You know, like I, I forgot the agreement of sale in case you want to write it up or I forgot, you know, the, the seller disclosure. Let me just call my office real quick and have them email it over to me. It's in the, the purple folder. And the office should have, you know, should be trained to know that, that an agent is, that's calling, is, need some, some help.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And again, and I've heard this from every, every, every, every single police officer. Call 911.
Call 911.
You don't even have to get on the phone with them. They're going to show up and when it turns out to be a false alarm, they're going to say, exactly this, this is what we're here for. We're really glad you called.
Call 91 1. Just do it. But again, let's, let's practice what we have to practice to put the things in place that we never have to use the thumb thing or the 911 thing or the weapon thing.
And I know it can be, you know, I know it can be challenging because we want the business and we want to rock and roll. We want to serve our clients.
But just trust your gut, be prepared. Don't question your intuition.
Don't question it.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Good stuff, Ed.
Next week we'll get, we'll get back into some fun topics, but I really, I'm glad you brought this one up today and hopefully people listening get something out of it. And if nothing else, it's just a reminder to be safe out there and, and, and, and, you know, have fun.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: Let's while, while that, let's roll it into go to chat GPT the prompt.
Hey, I'm a real estate agent in the Philadelphia area.
What are 10 things that I could do to ensure my safety when going on listing appointments or buyer appointments? Can you do the research and get back to me there? You go.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: Love it, man.
Good stuff.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Yeah, brother.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: I buy.
Check out the Gift of Fear. That's the action item. All right, everybody, we'll catch up with you next week.
