Good Harvest columnist Joshua shares with us how a real estate negotiator should hold fast to the golden rule of being early to be safe when conducting house viewing.

Here’s Joshua’s take:

Basic safety for real estate negotiator.

Many REN are concerned about their personal safety when conducting their business. We heard from the recent news that a lady agent was raped and a male agent was murdered.

Can we take some basic precautions or is there anything we can pay attention to?

Will you cross a busy road holding a handphone busy texting your friend? Most of us will not do so knowing the danger of not paying attention to the coming traffic.

Likewise are paying attention to the surrounding, the process and the prospect when we do our property viewing?

One of the grave mistake is when we are late for a viewing appointment.

We are so engrossed in getting the keys out from our bag, opening all the locks and at the same time apologizing for being late.

We are not mindful of the surrounding and the prospect beside us.

It is wise to ask some questions when we set up a viewing appointment.

1. What car are you driving and may I know the colour of your car?
2. What is the registration number of your car?
3. Are you coming alone or with someone too?
4. How many of you?

We must be there at least 30 minutes earlier than our viewer and prepare the property for viewing. It is good to keep the door unlock and wait for the viewer outside.

We inform the guard of our viewer details and ask the guard to register our viewer. If we are viewing a unit without a guard then we should wait outside the gate.

When the viewer arrive and does not match the information given to us such as a different car or more than the number of viewers mentioned. We should be cautious and alert.

If we are not comfortable, follow our gut feeling. Do not go into the unit.

Tell the viewer sternly to go ahead and you will wait for him at the guard house or outside the gate.

The golden rule is "Be early Be Safe"