REALTOR® Safety

Knowledge. Awareness. Empowerment. These are the core components of REALTOR® Safety. And helping our members understand the risks they face can mean the difference between life and death.

As a REALTOR®, it’s important you have a personal safety protocol in place that you use every day with every client, like when meeting new clients, showing properties or sharing information online.

CALL THE POLICE WHEN:

• Anytime you're suspicious about a prospect.
• You feel uncomfortable about showing a house to a prospect.
• You feel suspicious about a person after you have shown a house.
• You have been assaulted in any way. (Ex: robbed, raped, or mugged)

SAFEGUARD YOUR OFFICE

Keep windows and counters clear.  Robbers and attackers work in private and law enforcement needs to see in.  Play a T.V. or radio fairly loud in a room when you're alone in the office.   May sure all unused doors and windows are secure, especially if they're in the rear of the office or out of view and ear shot.

OPEN HOUSE PRECAUTIONS

• First time entering a house, check all rooms and plan several "escape" routes.
• Make sure deadbolt locks are unlocked to facilitate a faster escape.
• If escaping by back door, make sure backyard is easy to escape.  Frequently, high fences surround yards that contain swimming pools or hot tubs.
• Place your business card, with date and time on back, in a kitchen cupboard.  Note on it if you were the first to arrive or if clients were waiting.
• When prospects begin to arrive, write down description of their vehicle.
• When showing the house, walk behind the prospect always.  Direct them, not lead them.  Say, for example, "the bathroom is on your right," and gesture for them to go ahead of you.
• Don't become preoccupied with viewing the home and watch what the prospects are doing at at all times.
• Notify someone in your office, your answering service, a friend or family member that you'll call in every hour on the hour and if you don't call, they are to notify law enforcement immediately.
• Inform a neighbor that you'll be showing the house and ask to keep an ear open for anything unusual.
• Have someone stay with you. (A friend, a relative, or someone from your office)

React Mobile

React Mobile is a personal safety solution that turns your smartphone into a powerful lifeline via the React Mobile personal safety app. With this free app, you can let a wide network, including the local authorities, know where you are and that you need help. Their safety app features a “Follow-Me” function so you can let your trusted contacts know where you’re going and how for how long. The React Mobile smartphone app is available for free to download via iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon App Store(link is external)

AlertID

AlertID is a public safety product provides safety information on an easy to use map, and through emergency alerts on mobile devices, email and online. It integrates with the Computer Automated Dispatch (CAD) systems of thousands of local law enforcement agencies to deliver local crime information; sex offender information; weather alerts come from the national weather service; and community and neighborhood information.