PHOTO: Real Estate Agents
“If you build it, they will come” is often shared as a quote from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams. This quote has been used and misquoted for years — the line is really spoken, “If you build it, he will come.” The concept is simple: Think happy, positive thoughts, because if you believe in something strong enough, it will attract positive reactions.
Ironically, the idea that “If you built it, he will come” can also describe what is a growing problem in the real estate industry. The public sees successful real estate agents showing up in nice cars with the keys to million-dollar houses. They hold open these elaborate homes to the public and to criminals. Agents will meet interested buyers at a vacant house, in person, at 8:00 at night with no one around. Real estate agents are more accessible to the public than most financial wealth individuals, which I believe is why you often hear of crimes of opportunity being perpetrated against real estate agents.
Arkansas real estate agent Beverly Carter‘s murder made national news in 2014. Doing normal real estate agent activities, she was showing a home to a prospective buyer and just vanished.
On Christmas 2010 in San Antonio, Texas, real estate agent Janice Tisdale barely escaped with her life after a prospective buyer hit her over the head with a tire thumper. Emilio Maldonado told her that he did it because he was in need of $4,000. From the start of the showing, Tindale said, her instincts were telling her something was wrong.
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