Of course, we don’t want to get into victim mentality here (the criminal is responsible), but it’s important to keep yourself and your investment safe throughout this process. There’s a reason people lock their doors at night! Don’t become a statistic. Finding a great tenant and getting your property rented are important, but not as important as your safety. Here are some tips to help you stay safe when showing your rental property: • Do some quick research on the person before you meet them. If the person gives you their full name, just do a quick Google search and make sure there’s no issues or negative news articles about them. You can’t do a full criminal record check with just a name, but you do a basic background check and can see what pops up in the news and social media, for example. • Search their phone number. If they won’t give you a name, then do a Google search on their phone number; this will help you find their name, which you can then look up for any suspicious information. If you have a name and a phone number, you can look them up in many well-known national arrest websites. As an example of what can go wrong, a Realtor®, Beverly Carter, was kidnapped and murdered in Arkansas in 2014. The murderer, Arron Lewis, is listed on the Arkansas Arrests website, and shows an arrest warrant from 2012. His mugshot and arrest photos are there for public viewing, as are articles about him and his crimes. He ended up being sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. According the New York Daily News online, Carter “disappeared…after telling her husband that she was showing to
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