September is NAR’s National Realtor Safety Month. Real estate is by no means the only industry to center the need for safety, but NAR’s focus is different. In real estate, the threat to agents and brokers comes primarily from other people — which is in contrast to the safety concerns of other industries, which primarily focus on things like keeping employees safe in hazardous working environments or protecting the end-user of a product or service.
Realtors tend to work alone and show homes behind closed doors, which makes them potential targets for criminals. Helping improve real estate agent safety is one of Spokeo’s key priorities as a supporting player in the industry. To that end, in recognition of Realtor Safety Month, we’d like to showcase NAR’s realtor safety materials as well as our own contributions to that goal.
The Case for Realtor Safety Month
Why does NAR feel it necessary to drive home the message of realtor safety for an entire month? The answer to that question is as close as the Association’s annual Member Safety Residential Report. In 2023, for example, 22 percent of realtors responding to NAR’s survey reported fearing for their safety while on the job. This was down from 2022’s 23 percent but still represents over 1 in 5 realtors.
A more telling statistic is that 5 percent reported being the victims of a crime in 2023, up from just 2 percent the year before. That figure looks low, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the total number of real estate sales agents (not all of them members of NAR) at over 197,000 as of May 2023. Quick math tells us that this translates to nearly 10,000 real estate colleagues falling victim to a crime in just one year.
Informed and aware real estate professionals can take a number of steps to protect themselves. Two-thirds of those who’d taken one of NAR’s realtor safety courses, for example, reported that they felt better able to protect themselves afterward. Yet the same report showed that only 29 percent of respondents were even aware of the Association’s safety program. Clearly, there remains work to be done.
NAR’s Realtor Safety Resources
In September 2024 NAR will host a free Safety Month webinar for realtors, covering…
- Best practices for staying safe during property showings
- Useful safety tools and apps
- Conducting client meetings safely, in or out of the office
- A discussion of real-life safety scenarios, and how to respond to them
This webinar supplements and complements the Association’s existing safety resources, which include guidance on creating a personal safety strategy, tips and best practices, and training videos. NAR also encourages individual brokerages to incorporate agent safety and data safety procedures in their operations, and respondents reported that about half of brokerages have such formal procedures in place.
Spokeo for Business Brings Additional Safety Measures to the Table
While NAR’s materials and training can help agents or brokers refine their own personal safety routines, they can’t address one of the core risks that realtors face. Simply put, the job requires meeting and interacting with strangers on a regular basis. Having those initial meetings at the office or in a public place can mitigate the risk, and NAR’s report shows that roughly two-thirds of realtors routinely do so. Ultimately agents must show homes to prospective clients, and doing so involves risk (especially, but not exclusively, for female agents).
Spokeo for Business provides a useful tool that realtors can use in multiple ways to safeguard themselves. First and foremost, it provides an opportunity for realtors to research the prospective client before meeting. A quick Spokeo search, using the name, phone number, email address, or social media username of a prospective client can reveal a great deal about them.
On the positive side, this allows the realtor to become acquainted with the potential client’s current location and housing situation, public social media presence (if any), and other information such as their age. More pertinently, in the context of Realtor Safety Month, it may also show any discrepancies between the caller’s story and their real-world circumstances, namely:
- A phone number that doesn’t correspond to the name you were given.
- A name that doesn’t correspond to the address you were given.
- An address that doesn’t align with the way the property was described to you, in the case of a potential listing.
It can also reveal whether the phone number is tied to someone that has a criminal history, which – especially in the case of violent crime – is the reddest of red flags.
Honoring Realtor Safety Month
Spokeo for Business is not a one-note tool, aimed solely at safety. It’s also a robust prospecting tool, one that can streamline the always-challenging task of locating potential new clients and properties. But during Realtor Safety Month, we’ll be keeping the focus squarely on safety (watch this space for new content).
Of course, there is never a bad time to improve agents’ safety and sales efficiency. To learn more about Spokeo for Business, including the role it can play in agent safety, reach out to our team using the contact information shown on our Real Estate page. They’ll be happy to explain the product in greater depth, arrange a demonstration, or even set up a complimentary hands-on trial.
Disclaimer: Spokeo for Business is not a substitute for your own due diligence, especially if you have concerns about a person’s criminal history.
Sources:
National Association of Realtors: 2023 Member Safety Residential Report
US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: Real Estate Sales Agents
National Association of Realtors: REALTOR® Safety Month Webinar Registration