All Forum Posts by: Christine Shay

You are a stranger. What if you rob and kill the agent? What if you are trying to scam someone?

38% of agents are placed in situations where they have feared for their safety.  11% of agents have been a victim of a violent crime while conducting their business.

We do an in office, or a coffee shop consult. We require a copy of your ID, proof of funds, and lender pre-approval letter to proceed with working with our team. Client doesn't want to, we move on. I'm not putting myself or my team members in positions to be scammed or be a victim of violence.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cops-slain-realtor-was-to-show-...

This why they ask for I.D.

@Steve K.

Why I think it's a new agent? I know many people that would laugh at such a request. Let's assume that's half of the people in a market. The realtor now can only work with half of their potential customers. Beyond that, who is going to refer someone that operates like that? In our reia, we probably would laugh about this person a few times a year. Just saying. I'm sure if this is a hard and fast rule, demanding an ID in order to work with someone to make a nice commission - they probably have a bunch of other exclusively self serving demands of their customer. To me, it would seem difficult to sustain yourself in a sales position with this approach. I've probably worked with 12-15 realtors over the years. No one has ever asked for ID, and it would be memorable if one did. 

It's not them seeing the ID, it's also them being a responsible custodian of the information. When large companies, like Home Depot get hacked (40,000,000 customers) and they offer 12 months of credit monitoring, as their way of making things "right" - that's not enough to offset a lifetime of a compromised identity and all of the headaches the come with it. Their settlement, from what Google tells me, amounted to less than 50 cents a person. 

Do I think a realtor is going to protect my personal information in the way it should be.... uh... no. Some certainly would, but probably not even the majority of them would. 

As far as a safety issue - pack heat and be trained and proficient in using it. I realize that's not a perfect solution, but certainly a better one. I went into a business a few years ago, and on the outside door, it said "This is NOT a gun free zone." I don't think anyone will try any funny business there. 

1. It's a free country. If you don't like the way they do business, you are free to work with a different brokerage.

2. Did you ask her why they require it? If she can't explain the reason, I would question her skills as an agent.

3. It's a safety issue. Female agents are especially vulnerable when showing property to strangers. Many offices require a photo ID on file in case something happens (fraud, sexual assault, murder, abusive language or behavior, etc.). 

 Well, you’ll probably be more likely to have your identity stolen working with an agent that is less careful. 

I met with a PI recently to have him teach me various ways to tell if a Driver's License is fake. I had one on file from a fake seller who had recently tried to get me to list a property that didn't belong to them, and we found 16 different ways it was fake. They sent me a fake deed for the property too. I'd be grateful that your agent and their brokerage is on top of what's going on in the world. They'll probably make sure whoever you buy from is the actual seller too, and that you don't wire your hard-earned money overseas to a scammer like a lot of people have done recently. An agent doing their due diligence to protect themselves will probably be better at protecting their clients too. That would be a positive for me right now with all the scamming going on. Wire fraud, identity theft, fake sellers, fake buyers stealing things from listings… all these things are common these days and agents always get named in the resulting law suits because they carry E&O insurance. I won't be surprised if keeping copies of ID on file becomes a requirement and I view that as a positive. Unless your ID is fake?