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“What makes you think you won’t get murdered?” – Urgent Safety Message

By Craig Forte, Founder - Posted on
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Last Updated on April 7, 2017

“Recently I received a call from a ‘couple’ wanting to view one of my listings. After getting his name and phone number, I asked him what time the next morning would be good for him, he replied, ” 4 or 5 would be fine”, I assumed he was joking and I said, “Tell you what, I will meet you at 8 am.” He agreed and the next morning I was at the house and a very large man, at least 6’3′, 250ish pounds, showed up at the house, alone. I introduced myself and proceeded to allow him to enter, he insisted I enter first. Something I usually do not do, but I allowed myself to go in ahead of him. When inside, I stayed in the entrance and asked him to please go ahead and go through the house. He wandered quickly through and came back asking if we could sit and talk at the table. I said ok, and we sat and he talked about himself, ‘his girl'(girlfriend) and mainly back to him again. Suddenly he became quiet with his head down and in a quiet voice, he said, “I went fishing yesterday.” I waited and when no further response came, I just said, “ok?” He said, ‘My girl asked me what was wrong, and I told her I was thinking about meeting you here today.” Then he looked up at me and said, “What makes you think you won’t get murdered? Do you carry a can of spray, a stun gun, or a gun?” Needless to say I was starting to get very creeped out, and I looked directly at him and in a very low, calm voice, I replied, “No, I do not do any of those things, I always let the office know who I am meeting and where and what time, and then I check in when I get back.” He looked directly at me, and after making a comment on my appearance, in an almost low angry voice he said, “Do you have a feeling, do you think you would have a feeling that would tell you that you were looking at a murderer?” At that point I felt like an electric bolt went through my body, (the proverbial feeling!!) and I knew I just had to get him out of there. Again, very calmly, keeping my face totally expressionless, I said “no I do not have esp or anything close to it, I just try to make a living, say a prayer and do the best I can.”(I felt that if I had said yes, he was ready to leap across the table!) At this point, somehow I managed to stand up while gathering my things, and walked slowly to the door, making chit chat all the way, until I got him outside and then he said he would like to meet me again the next day to look at more properties and he told me that his mother had passed 2 years ago and he was having a hard time accepting it. As he walked to his truck, he stopped, turned around and said “My mother is dead, and there you are.” He shook his head as he got in his truck. Shaken, I contacted my Broker and explained the situation, and she insisted I file a police report. More happened but to summarize, the police contacted him, he was told not to contact me anymore and he called me 3 times, until I asked the Broker to call him, which she did and read him the riot act. His response to her was that he ‘had unfinished business’ with me. I haven’t heard from him again, but believe me, I am more aware of my surroundings, I always walk behind the client, always have my cell phone and definitely let others know where I am going and who I am meeting, I have an unlisted home phone and never, never tell a client what community I live in! We all know there are strange ones out there, and we have work we have to do! It is not feasible to have someone accompany me every time I have to show a house…Just be careful and if you get that gut feeling…Listen To It!”

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Craig Forte
Craig Forte has helped more than 32,000 real estate professionals over the last 22 years, helping them generate more clients, more referrals and repeats, and grow their production with less stress, time and effort – all by using innovative marketing training, systems and tools.
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