September is REALTOR® Safety month. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has compiled tips and best practices from subject matter experts, law enforcement, and industry veterans to help keep REALTORS® safe. It’s important to have safety protocols in place to make safety a priority and to make REALTORS® more aware of possible dangers in their day-to-day professional capacity.
Enact the CITO (Come Into The Office) rule. You should screen new clients at your office before meeting them anywhere else.
Agents need to trust their instincts: Listen to the voice inside your head, and leave if you feel threatened. Safety is more important than the sale.
Set up a “buddy system.” You should travel in pairs while hosting open houses or during showings with new clients.
Open houses can be a great sales tool—but hosting one also exposes agents to numerous unfamiliar people for the first time. Here are steps to take to help stay safe:
If possible, have at least one other person working with you at the open house.
Have all open house visitors sign in. Ask for full name, address, phone number, and email.
When showing the property, walk behind the prospect. Direct them—don’t lead them. Say, for example, “The kitchen is on your left,” and gesture for them to go ahead of you.
Meeting with people that agents don’t know can put their safety at risk. They don’t know whether this person could potentially be a predator, criminal, stalker, thief, or worse. Agents can stay safer by following these tips:
Get clients on your territory before your agents visit any property with them so you can learn more about them.
Ask for a copy of their ID—you can let them know it’s your policy that all clients’ driver’s licenses are photocopied.
When meeting clients at the office, introduce that client to at least one other person in your office.
Lauren Bunting is a Broker with Keller Williams Realty of Delmarva in Ocean City, Maryland.
