The Prescription Bandit

Recently while signing a listing to sell a condominium in San Rafael, CA my new clients were asking me about safety and security. Gathered around their kitchen table, our conversation was mostly hypothetical because their condo was going to be vacant and they didn’t want to have it staged so there really wasn’t going to be anything to steal. Back in the Great Recession in outlying areas around the Bay some people squatted in vacant homes. However there would be no opportunity for anyone to move in uninvited because after their tenant moved out we’d be getting the home right on the market and hopefully there was be a fairly steady stream of people coming through until it sells.

My old real estate broker used to have an open house advisory which basically stated that people needed to hide their prescription drugs and jewelry. These were the items that thieves targeted because they were valuable and small, easy to grab and conceal. Talking about these things with my new clients I was reminded of the time I had a run-in with Marin County’s infamous Prescription Bandit.

It was a typical Wednesday morning broker’s tour in the late winter of 2012 and I was holding a condominium open in Novato from 9:30am – 12:30pm. Weather was not an issue, it as overcast but it wasn’t particularly cold and it wasn't raining. The tour day was very light, there were only about six or seven other new listings on the market, which meant most touring brokers would see all the properties that day. My new listing was in the foreclosure process and we were in touch with the lenders in anticipation of doing a short sale. Short sales are when lenders agree to take less than what is owed on a home and they typically forgive the sellers’ difference in the debt. Short sales were the result of real economic hardship, which made the Prescription Bandit’s targeting this house even more unforgivable.

There was a fairly steady stream of Realtors coming through the house that day, mostly arriving in separate cars but sometimes caravanning with other Realtors and arriving 2-4 at a time. Some of the Realtors strictly came for the food, and I had my typical bounty from Comforts in San Anselmo out for all to enjoy: Chinese chicken salad, chicken Okasan, pigs in a blanket, and various cookies and cupcakes. On a day like that one I was rarely alone in a home. Often Realtors and/or their buyers had my ear as they talked with plates in hand. I was upstairs talking to a Realtor with an overflowing plate when another Realtor approached us. “Did that guy talk to you?” she asked.

“Which guy?” I replied. It’s almost impossible to keep track of everyone who comes through an open house, especially in a house with two levels. As a Realtor you should station yourself in the kitchen or living room, in a common area where you can greet guests as the come and go. I remember seeing the Bandit when he came in. Excusing myself from another Realtor I walked over and welcomed him with a brief intro about the house. I even shook his hand before going back to the other Realtor. I recall he looked like any other male Realtor on the tour. He was dressed well in slacks and a button down shirt. Tall, clean-cut and fit, a forty something guy whose appearance was completely incongruous with the word, ‘bandit’.

“He was downstairs in the bathroom, looking under the sink when I walked in.’ she explained. ‘He said there was a problem with the sink and he was going to talk to you.” He was obviously rooting about for prescription drugs but she had fallen for his little ruse.

I immediately hustled over to the door and went outside looking for him. The guest parking area was a good 150 yards down the street, and I had time to catch a glimpse of the Bandit’s car lurching out of a space and then peeling out. It was almost like a scene from a movie. He must have sprinted all the way to his car to get there that fast. The Bandit was too far away for me to recognize the make and model of the car, much less see the license plate. Can you imagine if I had though? He would have been shut down and in jail. Who knows what stolen goods they would have recovered in his house?

Over the course of the next half hour I talked to the Novato Police Department who didn’t come out to the house as it turned out nothing was missing: I had talked to the seller about hiding all prescription drugs and jewelry prior to going on the market. I also rushed through calls to each of the other agents who were holding houses open that day. They needed a heads up that the Bandit was on the prowl.

The Bandit was successful and had hit another house before his close call at my open house. The other home had been over $1 million, which in 2012 was a lot for a house in the area. By 2018 $1 million is practically a starter home in Marin County. In some areas that might not even get you a fixer upper! My little condo was a small but cute two bedroom two bathroom home in a great area surrounded by mature redwood trees. We were only asking $225,000 at the time. Today that home would sell for over $500,000.

You might think the lesson in this is to hide your prescription drugs and jewelry when holding a house open to the public. It’s not. The real lesson is to buy houses, especially during a down market. Six years later that condo is almost worth $300,000 more than our previous list price. That’s $50,000/year appreciation just by holding title to a home in Marin County. The Bandit is in the wrong line of work.