It’s been one year since Beverly Carter was found murdered after showing a supposed buyer a vacant bank-owned property in rural Scott, Ark. To honor her memory, a friend of the Carter family, Josh Stramiello, is releasing an app next week called BEVscore that seeks to keep people safe when meeting strangers.
The Carter family met with Stramiello in July and have a 10 percent equity in the safety app. They’re also donating 10 percent of its profits to a memorial fund set up in Carter’s honor.
“You know nothing’s going to bring back my mom,” says Carter’s son Chad. “It’s a very difficult time. Especially since we’re at the one-year mark. I’m hoping for a safer and better world. I never could’ve dreamt that something so great could’ve came into our laps.”
While the app was inspired by the safety challenges of real estate professionals, it’s a safety tool for any situation where meeting a stranger is involved. Stramiello’s BEVscore app is almost like a ‘personality credit score,’ Carter’s son tells THV11. It uses GPS technology to verify the user’s identity by keeping track of their most frequently visited places and then collecting that data and cross-referencing it with their profile. This data adds up to an overall BEVscore that shows if the user is trustworthy to meet in person.
According to the BEVscore website, its screening data takes the worry out of meeting strangers by giving the user the power to rate a person’s trustworthiness and reputation. Once both parties meet up, whether for a work-related transaction or even for a date, BEVscore monitors their time together and sends loved ones alerts if something troubling happens.
Beverly Carter’s murder last September also inspired brokers and agents across the country to take steps in making safety procedures standard practice and integrating safety into the real estate industry’s culture.
“I don’t want Beverly’s death to be in vain,” says Brenda Rhoads, Carter’s friend and managing broker at Crye-Leike, Realtors®, in North Little Rock, Ark. “If there’s just one person who comes out of this and realizes how important safety is, that’s the most important thing. Beverly would have wanted that.”
During NAR’s Broker Summit in August, Rhoads participated in a panel discussion about safety with NAR President Chris Polychron and chairman-elect of the Texas Association of Realtors Leslie Rouda Smith.
For more resources on how to stay safe while on the job, watch the Florida Realtors Take 5 video with Andy Tolbert. The association also offers a 75-minute online personal safety-training course.
Source: “‘Bev Score’ app created to increase realtor safety,” THV11.com (Sept. 24, 2015), “Making Real Estate a Safer Industry,” (September 2015)
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