Self Defense

Self Defense by a REALTOR® for REALTORS®
By Bob McCann, REALTOR® and Martial Arts Instructor

As a real estate broker and more importantly a Martial Arts instructor, I hear it all the time, “I live and work in a good neighborhood, and I don't have to worry about self defense”.

Tell that to the REALTOR® in Decatur, Illinois, who was strangled while showing a vacant property alone. In Sacramento, California, Sandra Tafoya disappeared after an appointment to show a home. Her bullet-riddled body was found in the trunk of her car five days after her family reported her missing.

Statistics don't lie and here are four quick ones.
1. A woman is sexually assaulted every 1.2 minutes and physically assaulted every eight seconds.
2. Chances are higher of being a victim of a violent crime than suffering injury in a car accident.
3. Murder is the number one cause of death for women in the workplace.
4. Friends or acquaintances account for more than half of the sexual assaults against females.

According to local law enforcement officials, as of this writing, REALTORS® are being stalked by a “Buyer” in the Cape May area, who expresses an interest in expensive, vacant property in secluded areas. How do agents protect themselves from a known risk or the even more insidious unknown risk? What's the answer? To get started, I recommend that you consider three approaches:
1. Proper office procedure.
2. Selling with caution.
3. Basic self-defense.

Many groups including the Women's Council of REALTORS cover proper office procedure®. These steps include basic safety methods and strategies.
  • Keep the office locked after hours.
  • When you leave, scan the area. Don't walk near secluded doorways or alleys. Make sure you can see around corners before you turn. If you can't, take a different route.
  • Always roll up your windows, lock your car and turn the security system on.
  • Never walk down the street dangling your car keys.
  • Approach your vehicle from the rear. Make sure the windows are still rolled up. Look in the back seat of your car before you put the key in the door. If anything looks out of the ordinary keep on walking.
  • Never show a property to a new client without bringing them to the office to qualify them. This could/should include to identifying them to other co-workers. Copy their driver's license/I.D. Obtain their license plate number as well as make, model and color of their vehicle.
  • A real buyer will not object coming to the office, whereas the criminal will avoid this kind of exposure at all costs.
  • Always use your automobile. Always be in control!
  • Your business card and published material should never have a home phone number, and the Glamour shot puts you at risk. If you portray yourself as physically attractive you are putting your self on the hit list. Remember, you're selling real estate, not fashion magazines.
  • When you show the home, do so with caution. Work in teams. Try to do all showing and open houses with a partner. Help one another. Remember . . . there is safety in numbers.
  • The criminal looks for the easy target... make it hard and they will move on.

You are a trained sales person and work with people constantly. Use your instincts and intuition. If you're getting a funny feeling about the client, you are probably correct. If that cash buyer is too good to be true . . . You could be right!! Don't take any chances.

If you are by yourself, open the property and let the customers enter to “discover” the property on their own. If you do enter the property, stay in the foyer near the door. Never let the person between you and the door so you can exit if things get sticky. Remember...Run First...Fight Last. Avoidance is the key to self-defense.

Never go into the basement. Never go into that back rear bedroom. Tell the office who you are with and where you are going! Have your office on the speed dial of your cell phone and have a code word to alert people that you are in trouble. When you attend open houses check your cell phone ‘s signal strength meter. If you're going to be showing a home, you need to find out if it's in an area that has weak of no signal strength. Pre-arrange a call-in system with your office. Have them call you at prearranged intervals. Tell them the document is in the green folder is everything is O.K. Create secret codes for emergency situations. Carry an extra, fully charged cell phone battery.

And last, but not least, basic self defense. For hundreds of years the ancient masters studied the human anatomy for healing purposes. They took this knowledge and reversed their thinking, using what they learned to attack the body. Therefore, Martial Arts is easy. Use the hard part of your body to strike the soft part of their body. Stomp on their foot with the heel of your foot, kick to the shin or groin, poke to the eye with your finger, pull the hair, and RUN!! Don't stand and fight. Get away, make a lot of noise...scream “fire”, and everyone becomes involved. If they grab your coat or pocketbook, let them have it. If they want the car, the cell phones, or the camera let them have it. Things can be replaced. Your life can't.

People talk about carrying weapons, which is a discussion in itself, but remember the gun you carry will probably be used against you, and you have to carry it all the time. With Martial Arts your body is the weapon. If you need additional help, remember anything can be a weapon. The pen in your pocket is for poking. A camera, a laptop computer or an attaché case is great for throwing or striking.

Remember, the best self-defense is to be aware. Don't put yourself in harm's way. We don't want you to be a statistic...just a successful REALTOR®.

REALTOR® Bob McCann is a broker in Cape May County and has taught Martial Arts for 20 years. He has been a presenter at the NJAR Trade Show and Expo on two occasions and at numerous board and association functions. E-mail: rj@monihan.com.