The piercing alarm of a stun gun shattered the quiet in a Laguna Niguel neighborhood one morning last week as a real estate broker let it rip.
“I feel more secure,” said Janet DePerry as she fired the small, cobalt blue weapon into the air to show how it uses electrical volts to disorient an attacker. “I’m going to protect myself. If it’s between me and someone else, they’re going to lose.”
When DePerry bought the stun gun from a vendor at a Realtors convention in Anaheim a few weeks ago, there was a long line of real estate professionals with the same idea, she said. Lately, brokers have been reminded that their routine – often working alone with strangers, and sometimes in empty or remote homes – exposes them to unusual risks.
Last Saturday, a transient put a real estate agent in Laguna Niguel into a chokehold, punching her in the face and almost knocking her unconscious, according to sheriff’s deputies. The agent, whose name was not released, was securing a lockbox at a home that was for sale for more than $1.5 million. A man was arrested in the assault on Sunday.
Sheriff’s deputies say the woman wasn’t targeted specifically because she was a real estate agent; rather, it was a crime of opportunity. But the victim was an agent doing her job, and the attack shook up the local real estate community.
Many agents already were troubled by the slaying of an agent in Arkansas last month and other assaults, sometimes fatal, in recent years against real estate agents around the country. The killing of Beverly Carter, 49, set off industrywide discussions about how agents and others in isolated situations can conduct business safely.
“We are swimming against … decades of training the public to expect us to be on call at the drop of a hat to meet anyone, anywhere, anytime to earn a commission,” wrote J. Philip Faranda, a New York broker, on Inman News, a trade website, in August. “We need to re-educate the public.”
Carter was robbed, kidnapped and killed in September. Her body was found buried in a shallow grave behind a concrete mixing plant north of Little Rock. Her husband last heard from her just before she planned to meet a new client at a vacant, foreclosed property on the market, according to reports.
The lesson some brokers are taking from the case is that they have to be willing to forgo a potential client when the situation doesn’t feel right. It’s not clear how soon Carter may have realized she was in danger. But the man who subsequently was arrested told reporters he targeted her because she was “a woman who worked alone, a rich broker.” He was charged with kidnapping and capital murder.
“I believe the general attitude is, ‘Oh my God, I’ve done with buyers the same thing Beverly did. She could have been me!’” said Margaret O’Brien, a real estate agent with First Team Real Estate in Huntington Beach. “We are told to be safe out there, but in truth, the industry as a whole is not taking our safety anywhere close to serious.
“We teach our children about ‘stranger danger,’ yet we continually put ourselves in danger by employing unsafe business practices with buyers we don’t know. We wouldn’t get into a car with a stranger, yet we would meet that same stranger, all by ourselves, at a property to show it to them.”
Not any more, some agents say.
“The public needs to not be offended when an agent asks them to come to the office first,” said Zen Ziejewski, a Keller Williams agent who spoke at a candlelight vigil for Carter that several agents held earlier this month in Ladera Ranch.
“We as agents need to remind other agents: It’s not worth it, to try to get one sale, to risk your life.”
Among those attending the vigil was Diana Fugate, who said she and her boyfriend came up with a code phrase so she could let him know if she was in danger.
When he called to check in on her during a recent evening home showing, she knew that if anything was amiss, she could mention the couple’s black Labrador, who died in December.
“Hey,” Fugate was to casually ask her boyfriend if she needed help, “did you remember to walk Lucy tonight?”
Real estate broker Christine Donovan hires an ice cream truck for her open houses. But the hot pink truck parked curbside isn’t there just to make children and their home-shopping parents happy. The mother and daughter team dispensing treats makes Donovan feel like less of a sitting duck for any strangers with ill-intentions.
“I think many times we feel like we live and work in a safe area and are perhaps a little too blase about it,” said Donovan, broker-owner of DonovanBlatt Realty in Costa Mesa. “Even the men I’ve spoken to acknowledge that they, too, should be more aware.”
For some agents, however, having company isn’t enough.
Realtors share some close calls
Fugate said she’s applying for a concealed weapons permit. Charisse Wolf, a Keller Williams agent who arranged the vigil, said she carries a kubotan. The devices are about the size of a large pen or wooden dowel and typically attach to a key chain. In a fight, they can deliver pain in a variety of ways – jabbed into flesh or smacked against an attacker’s face.
DePerry, broker-owner of La Bella Homes Realty in Dana Point, said she spent $35 on her stun gun. The curvy, rubber-coated weapon is about the size of a cellphone but narrower and thicker. When she disengages a pin, the alarm sounds.
Safety experts say it’s better to escape, if possible, than confront an attacker. But DePerry noted escape routes are limited for high-heeled real estate agents in homes with backyard fences.
“Every yard has a 6- to 8-foot fence,” she said. “Even if you were going to run in the backyard, what, we’re going to scale these walls? You have to look the part. I’m not going to go to open houses in sneakers.”
Homesellers also need to take precautions, agents say. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is investigating burglaries at homes that have had open houses in Coto de Caza, San Juan Capistrano and Ladera Ranch. Last week, Los Angeles police said they were looking for a man they suspect of burglarizing at least three west L.A. homes for sale. Jewelry and high-end watches were taken during or after open houses there, according to police.
“People come into these million dollar homes. … The wife is detaining you in one room, and the husband is walking around, clearing out the house,” DePerry said. “Every time I have a listing, I have an addendum that I draw up that says: I am not responsible for any theft in your house. Especially if they are demanding I have an open house.”
She added, “You would be surprised how many people will leave Rolexes on a counter in their bedroom. I go in before my open houses and clear everything. As I’m doing it, I write notes to the client: ‘Your Rolex is in …’ ”
Police say leaving around photos or documents revealing too much about a homeowner’s identity or wealth can be dangerous. It’s also important for agents and homeowners to make sure a residence is secure after an open house is over, without any windows left open or doors unlocked, lest an opportunist return.
Even making a point to greet everyone who enters an open house can discourage a later crime.
“Acknowledging people and letting them know that more than one person is aware of their presence is usually a great way to deter crime,” Donovan said. “It’s why many retail stores have everyone say ‘hi’ and ‘welcome’ to you as you walk in the store.”
Contact the writer: mkalfus@ocregister.com
