How the Tragic Death of an Agent Led Her Son to Promote Agent Safety

“My mom had been a real estate agent for over a dozen years. She showed so many homes over the span of her career and all it took was one bad incident – and it’s over,” says Carl Carter, founder and president of the Beverly Carter Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in honor of his mother, Beverly.

In the fall of 2014, Beverly Carter, a real estate agent with Crye-Leike in Arkansas, was kidnapped during a house showing and murdered by a couple posing as interested homebuyers. The murderers confessed in court that they sought Beverly out because she worked alone.

“In the aftermath of losing my sweet mom, I found that these bad people that took her from us were in the spotlight of local media. So, I started speaking out for my mother because she no longer had a voice,” says Carter. “I was speaking on behalf of her character and the lovely person that she was. An unintentional consequence of this is the more I told her story, the more people told me that I had so many important messages for all real estate agents to benefit from. That’s what started my grassroots safety message.”

Carter spent the next few years sharing what happened to his mother as warning for other real estate agents to practice safety measures. Each time he spoke at an event, agents would approach him afterwards and share their own stories of harassment and assault.

“Because of the magnitude of my mom’s story as national news, people were already encouraging me to take action before we even had the funeral,” he says. “It wasn’t until two years after losing my mom, when [an agent] confided in me with her own traumatizing story, that it finally clicked. It was that moment that I realized I wasn’t doing enough and could do a better job educating and empowering brokers and agents. I began going through the process of establishing a nonprofit organization.”

In 2017, the Beverly Carter Foundation was created to raise awareness and has since become a leading resource for real estate agent safety in the industry.

Connecting with real estate

In the same year the organization was founded, Carter decided to become a real estate agent to better relate to the subject matter he was devoting his life to.

“I didn’t want to be talking about open house safety never having conducted an open house myself,” Carter explains.

He joined RE/MAX Elite in Little Rock, Arkansas, in part because of his lifelong friendship with Keith Pike, the brokerage’s owner who grew up alongside Carter and knew his mother. Pike, who serves on the board of the Beverly Carter Foundation, helped Carter find a place to thrive as an agent while also amplifying his mother’s message through a globally connected network.

“Joining RE/MAX created opportunities – it opened the door to Canada and now I’ve spoken in almost every Canadian province,” Carter says. “I’ve done videos and webinars on agent safety for RE/MAX agents all over the world, so it’s just been an incredible extension of my mother’s legacy as we run this nonprofit.”

Carter also speaks each year at the annual RE/MAX R4 convention on behalf of the Beverly Carter Foundation.

What can agents do to take caution?

To stay safe when working alone, Carter explains that agents must check personal biases at the door and dismiss their preconceived notions of what a threatening person may look like.

“I encourage all agents to approach their screening of clients with the same diligence they do with fair housing. All clients deserve fair and consistent screening,” Carter says.

He recommends that agents have a consultation meeting with every client they work with, whether it’s a referral, online connection or open house attendee. Meeting people face-to-face helps reveal the client’s intentions and drives accountability – all while reinforcing an agent’s professionalism.

When meeting in person, Carter suggests having another person come along to the showing if possible. And, either way, he suggests hanging jingle bells – the kind meant to train a dog to ask to go outside – on main level doors so the agent can be alerted if someone is entering the home, especially when upstairs or with different clients during an open house. Other tips for prevention and self-defense can be found on the foundation’s digital resource page.

In addition to having online resources, producing “agent productivity kits” and having a presence at industry events, the Beverly Carter Foundation teaches classes on agent safety. With the help of 30 volunteers and seven teachers, the foundation taught 55 classes in 2019 and is aiming to teach 75 in 2020 – now online due to COVID-19.

Through advocacy, teaching and promotion, Carter is committed to helping agents stay safe.

“Stories change us, shape us and drive people to change,” he says. “When I talk to agents about safety, I always start with my sweet mom.”

Tune in to the Start With a Win podcast, hosted by RE/MAX CEO Adam Contos, to hear more from Carl Carter.