In our dangerous and unpredictable world, a person’s home is their sanctuary. A total stranger can very easily violate that sanctuary.
That’s why I’ve never had a problem asking home sellers who are attempting to sell their own home this one simple question:
Are You Crazy?
In the past few years, there has been a troubling increase in the number of con artists, rapists, thieves, and other criminals pretending to be prospective homebuyers in an attempt to gain access to a property, or worse, its occupants.
As an experienced real estate agent, I can’t understand why anyone would ever let a total stranger into their home. What is your family worth?
Don’t you realize you are allowing total strangers into your house? Would you let the cable guy or a repairman in without an appointment?
What about the random people who are likely driving by your home and calling you at all times of the day, asking to see your house? Do you stop everything and immediately let them in?
Here’s how a typical phone call to a For Sale By Owner goes:
‘Hello, I saw an ad for your home this morning and was wondering if you’d be around tomorrow around 2 pm to show it to me?’
‘No, I can’t do that, my husband and I will be at work.’
‘Fine, how about 6 pm?’
‘Great. See you then.’
Guess what happens the next day around 2 pm. Your house is broken into, or something even worse.
Over the course of my real estate career, I’ve heard about this trick getting played hundreds of times on naïve homeowners. A creative criminal can come up with dozens of things to say to you, while you’re too busy focused on trying to get your home sold.
As real estate agents, a lot of emphasis goes into protecting and training us to be safe, and even we still get hurt, robbed, or sometimes killed. That’s why it’s easy for me to ask you, ‘Are you crazy?
Don’t let strangers into your house.’
Why would you risk your life or the lives of your family just to sell your house!
In the past few years in Atlanta and nationwide there’s been an increasing number of crimes targeting homeowners who were trying to sell a home but instead ended up falling victim to a horrible crime.
When trying to sell a home on your own, you’ll usually post the home on websites like Zillow, Facebook Marketplace, and several other websites, hoping to attract a potential buyer.
What you don’t know is that you are putting your family at risk of being a victim to the numerous rapists, burglars, sexual predators, murderers, and other criminals who are searching these same websites looking for potential victims. You’re hoping the person on the other end of the phone is interested in buying your home, but in reality, they have other plans in mind for you.
Thousands of people have been shot, robbed, and even killed because they were trying to sell something simple, like a cell phone, iPad or video game system over the internet? If a criminal is willing to kill you just to steal your cheap, used electronics, what do you think they’re willing to do to get access to your entire house and all its contents?
By attempting to sell your own home, you are basically announcing to would-be criminals exactly where you are and unknowingly turning yourself into a target.
You even post pictures of the inside of your home, basically showing off everything you have inside to would-be criminals!!
All that, just to keep from having to pay a real estate commission?
In the past few years, there have been hundreds of reported incidents of crime against people trying to sell homes, both here in Atlanta and around the country.
Every year there are multiple incidents. Here are a few of the most notable stories I’ve come across over the course of my real estate career. Feel free to Google any of them. I’m not making this stuff up.
March 2014 – Atlanta, Ga.
A 32-year-old female is viciously beaten, sexually assaulted, and robbed after advertising her home for sale on the Internet. Officials discovered that the single female had recently advertised an open house at the home she was trying to sell. On the night after the open house, three suspects kicked in the door while she was at home alone with her three-year-old daughter. They assaulted her, demanded money, jewelry and stole electronics…all in front of her minor child. She believes they may have been in her home earlier that day, pretending to be a possible buyer. No suspects were ever identified since the attackers used a fake name when they stopped by her open house.
Atlanta Ga. (Buckhead)
A young woman is tied up and forced to watch as her husband is severely beaten by assailants who had arrived at a private viewing that had been arranged for two individuals that had contacted them from an ad they had posted on Zillow. After being taken on a tour of the home, one of the suspects brandished a firearm and demanded cash, jewelry, and car keys from the couple.
Feb. 19 – Midtown Atlanta
(This story was all over Channel 2, 5, and 11 Alive News):
Dr. Eugenia “Jeanne” Calle, is beaten to death by a man pretending to be a potential buyer of her luxury $800,000 condo on the 20th floor of the Aqua building in Midtown. At age 57, just two weeks into retirement, Jeanne wanted to sell her condo so she could move in with her fiancé. Her alleged attacker confessed to police how he spent 20 to 30 minutes in her home, asking questions and pretending to be a potential buyer, before hitting her on the back of the head with an unknown object, dragging her into the pantry, and taking a diamond ring off her finger, along with $68 in cash and her credit cards. He was later arrested after using her credit cards to shop at numerous stores in Atlantic Station and Buckhead.
August 22 – A 35-year-old man knocks on the door of a home for sale, pretending to be a homebuyer. The homeowners are not at home, but he’s able to talk his way in by claiming he just wants to take a quick look at the home. Instead, he sexually assaults the homeowner’s 19-year-old daughter.
Police believe Oliver Hooper, who had been dubbed the “real estate rapist”, visited a dozen other homes for sale in the area, posing as a potential homebuyer while looking for additional victims. He was sentenced to 50 to 100 years in prison, but the damage he caused was irreplaceable.
April 8 – 27-year-old Ashley Okland is found dead inside an empty house she was trying to sell, after being shot twice by an unknown assailant. Even after following up on over 700 leads, being featured on Crime Stoppers, and offering rewards up to $150,000, this case remained unsolved for months.
Nov. 3 – Cobb County. Atlanta Ga.
Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21 are robbed and murdered at a home they were trying to sell to a total stranger. It’s later determined that their attacker robbed them so he could get money to pay his car note. Both victims had been robbed, stripped naked, and shot in the head after he forced them to give up the PIN numbers to their credit cards.
Sept. 20 – Vivian Martin, a 67-year-old cancer survivor is found dead inside a home that was deliberately set on fire in an attempt to cover up the crime. She had last been seen leaving to meet a stranger who had called trying to see a home she was trying to sell. She had been robbed of $56, strangled, and set on fire by two men pretending to be home buyers.
March 7 – Shawn Yates is convicted for the rape, beating, and attempted murder of a woman he fooled by pretending to be a prospective homebuyer. During the trial, the victim tearfully told the jury how she had pleaded with the attacker to spare her life, and the only way she was able to survive the brutal attack was because she pretended to be dead after he stabbed her in the neck and said he was going to kill her.
July 8 – 40-year-old Sarah Anne Walker was hosting an open house in a community considered safe by many when she was stabbed 27 times by a convicted felon who also robbed her of her watch and jewelry.
I could share dozens of additional stories.
I hate to be so graphic, but unfortunately, these are events that occur too often in our dangerous society. I invite you to go visit the police department in any part of metro Atlanta, have them run a crime report for your area and you’ll quickly learn how fast home invasions, burglaries, and even worse crimes are happening all over the city, especially by people who think it’s safe to advertise their homes for sale without the help of an agent.
And these crimes are not just taking place in the bad parts of town. Criminals aren’t stupid. They get online and see you advertising a home for sale in a nice, upscale area and they start thinking about all the money, expensive jewelry, and electronics they would love to come take from you, even if they have to take your life in the process.
People are crazy these days and you never want to be left alone in your home with a total stranger who saw your ad over the Internet. Even smart real estate agents NEVER show homes to random strangers who call us on the phone. You never know what could happen.
To reduce security risks for our clients, we carefully prescreen all prospective buyers before arranging a showing, to ensure they are sincere and financially qualified to purchase any home we show them.
We make copies of IDs, have their credit pulled by a reputable mortgage lender, and can guarantee that any potential buyer we bring to your home, is ready, willing, and qualified to purchase a home.
As a real estate agent, I would never sell my own home By Owner, and that’s likely because I’ve seen firsthand what could happen to unsuspecting homeowners. There are just too many risks involved and not just your safety.
In the end, making the decision to sell your home By Owner is totally up to you. If you don’t have a problem letting strangers into your home and dealing with whatever could happen, by all means, we wish the best for you.
If it were up to me, I’d probably tell you, “Why don’t you do the right thing and protect your family and let us help you sell your house quickly, safely, and for more money.
But the choice is yours. If at any time, you decide you could benefit from the services of a client-focused real estate team, dedicated to selling your home for top dollar, while keeping you safe at the same time, please give us a call.
What Type of People Look at Homes Being Sold By Owner?