FROM THE READERS: LETTERS

Thanks for recognizing the heroes Hats off to the Boy Scouts Leave the do-not-call rules in place

Nix open houses—they’re neither worthwhile nor safe
The article on safety, “ Protect your life ” (September 2003), reminds me that the most dangerous part of real estate is open houses. Besides attracting neighbors, the curious, and unqualified “lookie-loos,” opens draw weirdoes of varying degrees.

There are litigious types who feign falls, crooks who scope out the layout and contents of homes, and stalkers who see a salesperson’s photo and decide to follow her around town.

In the past few months, right here in Minnesota, there’ve been practitioner abductions and attacks: One salesperson was invited to conduct a market analysis on a home and was sexually assaulted by a man and his sister-in-law. Another was holding an open house at a model home when a man came in, took off all his clothes, and helped himself to the shower. Yet another salesperson had her purse stolen. Two female salespeople were robbed at gunpoint while showing a vacant property last spring.

It’s time for professionals to prevent these kinds of crimes by eliminating the vulnerability: Stand up and educate your clients about the dangers and pointlessness of open houses. They’ll understand that reducing their liability is a great benefit and that you are professional and creative enough to bring the very best buyer—without the risks.
—Cynthia Noren, CRB, GRI, Counselor Realty, Maple Grove, Minn.

Thanks for recognizing the heroes

I really like your REALTOR® Hometown Hero column. In our industry, many folks are so busy going for the gold and scrambling over each other that they forget to give something back. My hat is off to these heroes and to you for calling attention to their good works!

—Colleen Richter, GRI, Village Realty, Hicksville, Ohio

Hats off to the Boy Scouts

REALTOR® Magazine is a fine publication, and I always look forward to gleaning several ideas each month that help make me a better practitioner. However, I take strong exception to a September 2003 letter by Bill Barksdale (“ Scouting policy unacceptable ”) blasting the Boy
Scouts for taking a “public and virulent homophobic stance.”

First, REALTOR® Magazine should help practitioners become better professionals. It shouldn’t promote anybody’s agenda no matter on which side of the fence they sit.

Second, as to the content of Mr. Barksdale’s letter, I can only sigh in disbelief. The Scouts haven’t made this issue a public one; homosexual activists have.

The Boy Scouts has trained many young boys to become good citizens and love God and their country. Scoutmasters are sometimes the only positive male figure in a boy’s life. So I say hooray for the Boy Scouts and hooray for the practitioners who are Scoutmasters and who make a big difference to young people in America.

—Rick Stockel, Prudential, Slater James River, REALTORS®, Richmond, Va.

Leave the do-not-call rules in place

Consumers who actively say they don’t want to be solicited by phone at home shouldn’t have their privacy invaded by unwanted telemarketing calls (“ Staying on the line ,” September 2003). It
puzzles me why any business would want to call someone on the list, since the likelihood of conducting business with people who are so vehemently anti-telemarketing is virtually nonexistent. The only ones who’ll benefit from circumventing the rules are the telemarketing companies.

—Doug Amada, One Cap Realty, Las Vegas

Letters are edited for space and clarity. Publication of a letter doesn’t constitute an endorsement of the writer’s views by the National Association of REALTORS® or REALTOR® Magazine.

COMMENTS?

Send your letters to narpubs@realtors.org.

Mail: REALTOR® Magazine, 430 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-4087
E-mail: narpubs@realtors.org
Fax: 312/329-5978
Phone: 800/874-6500