Leave Your Mark With Coldwell Banker EvenBay Real Estate

Interview With EvenBay Real Estate

EvenBay Real Estate : "Hi, welcome to another segment of 'Leave Your Mark' with Coldwell Banker EvenBay Real Estate . In this segment, we talk about tools, technologies, and resources to get real estate agents to the next level. So here we are in September. We have lots to talk about. Football, fall is here, and it's Realtor Safety Month, so what a better time to talk to you about some safety tips when it comes to showing houses and just knowing who you're dealing with. So I brought here today our resident safety and security expert, Bill Barna, who is the owner of Bolo Stick, which we talked about in a few segments ago but he is also a retired police officer who was in the force for over 33 years so there's nobody better to talk to about safety than you, Bill."

Bill Barna: "Well I'll take that, thank you very much, it's a great introduction. You know, when you ask me what are some things that we could do to make the realtors a little safer in their workplace, I thought maybe we just need to look at some common sense."

EBRH: "Absolutely."

BB: "Not necessarily the step-by-step you have to do, this, this, this, and this, but just some common sense ideas when we look out there to see our workplace, I mean let's face it, in a recent survey, 10% of realtors have been attacked in their workplace. That's a lot when you think about it."

EBRH: "Wow. Yeah."

BB: "But you have to also think they work alone, with unknown people, and in unknown locations so they're not controlling anything."

EBRH: "Absolutely."

BB: "We have to give them something they can kind of level the playing field with."

EBRH: "Wonderful."

BB: "So I thought, 'I got to put my thinking cap on and one of the things I came to, was, you know, the first thing you want to do is file a flight plan. Okay, now what do I mean by file flight plan? Well, if you're flying an airplane, you've got to do all the logistics where you're going to be, what time you'll be back every day, the same thing with the realtor. Okay, if you're going out, let people know who you're going to be with, where you're going what time will you estimate it being done, how long will it take you, can you do anything, is there anything you have on your person that can help, like your cell phone, can you turn on a location, send your location to one of your loved ones, right, or a fellow realtor. I mean, it lets somebody know where you're going to be, so if you're not back in a certain amount of time, it raises suspicion and at least we have some way of looking for you."

EBRH: "I love that."

BB: "What about the different websites out there, and I know you can't speak to this, but there are different websites out there, where when a caller calls in, you get their name and phone number and you can actually go on those websites and verify who they are. Some of them even show some of their backgrounds and public records and things like that, so I think it's great to even get that, you know, upfront information about that person before you're actually going, you know? You imagine, you know, we have football this month, this is what the opposing coaches do."

EBRH: "Absolutely."

BB: "They try to find out as much information as they can about the opposing team so they can put a game plan together, and if it is somebody that you feel kind of sketchy about, then let's double up, let's take a second realtor with you, and make sure your gut, trust your instincts and if something doesn't feel right it usually is."

EBRH: "Absolutely."

BB: "So that kind of gets us started in the right direction. When you go to the location, what I would like you to do, is attract attention that you are there when you pull up to the place. If you can, park on the road, turn on your flashers, it's already drawing attention to where you're at, and it also gives you an avenue of escape."

EBRH: "Wonderful."

BB: "You can get out a lot faster, you won't get blocked in by a secondary car."

EBRH: "Gotcha. I love that."

BB: "The flashers just bring attention to you when you enter the house. Leave the front door open, make something look out of the ordinary to the neighbors so that they might actually report to the police should you be there too long."

EBRH: "Wonderful. I love those ideas. Common sense things that you don't think about."

BB: "It is common sense and I think of it more from, like I said my police background, I'm driving around the neighborhoods and I see a door open or I see flashers on, it does draw my attention."

EBRH: "Absolutely."

BB: "So let's keep you safe that way. Thirdly, when you enter the house, you know some people like to close talk. Yeah, well, let's not do that, let's keep our distance. You need to maintain what's called a reactionary gap, which is at least two arms lengths away from somebody. That allows you to perceive what they're going to do and be able to react to it if something should go awry. Action will always be reaction."

EBRH: "Absolutely."

BB: "If you're doing something, I have to perceive, evaluate, decide, and then act, and those split seconds give you the upper hand and not me on the defense."

EBRH: "Gotcha."

BB: "So let's just remember our reactionary gap. Keep distance between us, and when you're showing the house, try not to lead through the house. Let the client lead through the house and you can explain the reason I say this, I don't want somebody behind me because if something goes crazy, I can't fight what I can't see, and if I can't see it, I can't defend myself."

EBRH: "Absolutely."

BB: "So leave them in front of you, don't lead, follow, and you can give clear instructions, 'hey and this bedroom on the right has xyz, the bathroom is over here, and it's beautiful.' You know what you need to do, absolutely, but just be safe when you're doing it, and I think lastly be very hands-on. Okay now I'm not saying touchy-feely, I'm saying hands-on, meaning utilize these in a self-defense situation. A lot of us become reliant on pepper sprays or stun guns, the bad thing is when it really hits the fan and your blood pressure jumps up, and the adrenaline surges, you lose what's called fine motor skill, so you couldn't tie your shoe, you couldn't button your shirt, you're going to lose this because the blood goes to the working major muscles for survival. That's interesting, so pepper spray might be risky to try and get that thing out, a stun gun is the same type of thing, rely on your hands, and gross motor movements to defend yourself. What I like best is simple, it is a very simple thing you put on your keychain, called a kubotan. What's nice about it, is it gives you the option to strike back. You can use it to punch, you can use it to jab, you can use the keys in a slicing motion to get yourself more distance to get away, and stay safe. Just very very simple things for safety."

EBRH: "Absolutely."

BB: "On duty, when I was a police officer, I used this myself. Those are a couple of my common sense quick tips. I just think to make yourself less of a target, and ask yourself, 'What am I doing to prepare myself for a situation that might happen? Am I taking self-defense classes? Am I taking boxing or jiu-jitsu?' There's a host of things right here that you can do to make yourself less of a target and more of a survivor."

EBRH: "Wonderful. Such great information, and like you said, it's just common sense things that sometimes when you're in the midst or in the situation or you think that you know, you're naive to some of these things that happen and it's great to have this background information so that we can think about it and prepare some common sense tips."

BB: "Awesome."

EBRH: "So I know we talked a little bit about Bolo Sticks, so not only are we talking about safety out in the workplace as a realtor, but what about safety in the home? Tell us a little bit about your Bolo Stick Residential."

BB: "Thank you for everything. So our Bolo Stick Residential Door Barricade is very simple. You have your door lock, and you have your deadbolt . The doorway our Bolo Stick door barricade works in as another layer of safety. It mounts at the floor, it's good for over 4,200 pounds of force, and it keeps your door from being kicked in. We've seen a lot of deadbolts and lock sets kicked in very easily. With the Bolo Stick Door Barricade , it's almost impossible to do."

EBRH: "Awesome! So bolostick.com, that's where they can find out more information about it, so if you have any questions, I mean, we have access to like I said our resident safety and security expert Bill Barna, feel free to drop them in the comments below and we'll get back to you, but thank you for your time today Bill. Thank you for this great information. Thank you, stay safe everybody, and thank you for watching another segment of 'Leave Your Mark' with Coldwell Banker EvenBay Real Estate . Have a great one!"