{"id":12273,"date":"2017-09-06T14:54:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T19:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therealdaily.com\/?p=12273"},"modified":"2017-09-06T14:54:43","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T19:54:43","slug":"safety-month-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/real-estate-brokers\/safety-month-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Realtor Safety Month, y’all! How’s about a pepper spray?"},"content":{"rendered":"

REALTOR SAFETY MONTH<\/h2>\n

September is National REALTOR\u00ae Safety Month, and the folks at SABRE (y\u2019know, the pepper spray people) have some helpful tips to keep you protected on the job. Their press release notes, \u201cfrom driving in cars with strangers to waiting alone at open houses, realtors deal with a unique set of personal safety problems while on the job<\/p>\n

Read also: Just how concerned is your state with safety? Here are the top 10<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

\"bar\"
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve given their [real estate agents\u2019] situation a lot of thought,\u201d notes SABRE CEO David Nance. \u201cIn addition to having the right tools, we also try to give our clients the right knowledge to stay safe.\u201d Brush up on SABRE\u2019S suggestions to stay safe not just this month, but year round as well.<\/p>\n

SET UP A CHECK-IN TIME<\/h2>\n

Let someone know where you\u2019re going whenever you head to an open house or are meeting a client. Set up a check-in time with your coworkers, friends, or family so they know when to expect you back, or how long they should wait to hear from you again.<\/p>\n

For example, when I have a friend going on a date with someone they\u2019ve never met, we establish a check-in time. If my friend isn\u2019t back home or I don\u2019t hear from them during the discussed timeframe, I call or text to see if everything is okay.<\/p>\n

ESTABLISH AN EXIT PLAN<\/h2>\n

When I call, if something is wrong or my friend just wants to leave, I pull from my list of excuses to get them out of the situation. When it comes to your safety, making excuses is okay. Even if there aren\u2019t any red flags with a client, always plan for a way out ahead of time. If something doesn\u2019t feel quite right, you\u2019ll be prepared to leave instead of fumbling for a plan.<\/p>\n

Brainstorm a list of possible, believable reasons to leave a situation ahead of time with your friends or coworkers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My personal favorite: pretending to get locked out of the house or office. SABRE<\/a> suggests getting even more spy-oriented and setting up a code word you can use in case you have to make the \u201csave me\u201d call in front of your problem client.<\/p>\n

Other reasonable excuses: picking up a child from school or practice, urgent call from a coworker or family member, or some sort of office disaster. Get creative, and remember that you don\u2019t necessarily have to provide details. Just be confident about your fake reason.<\/p>\n

BE PREPARED<\/h2>\n

On airplanes, my dad taught me to count how many rows of seats to the exits. That way I can find my way in the dark and not panic in case of an emergency. Likewise, you should practice routes you\u2019ll be driving with clients so you can be confident about directions, and can\u2019t be taken advantage of by getting misrouted to an unsafe location.<\/p>\n

Never let the client be the driver when carpooling to a location. Also make sure you have cell coverage during your trial drives. Walk around the house you\u2019ll be showing and ensure you\u2019ve got some bars in every part of the property.<\/p>\n

SABRE also recommends utilizing their line of safety products, which range from keychain-sized pepper spray to personal alarms with motion detectors. Fun fact: pepper spray is legal in all 50 states.<\/p>\n

MAINTAIN YOUR PRIVACY<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t mix personal and private. Only use your office address and work number on your business cards and paperwork. Don\u2019t provide your personal home or cell phone number to clients, and if you use social media, create a separate business account.<\/p>\n

SABRE stresses \u201cthe smartest thing to do is take your personal safety into your own hands.\u201d Don\u2019t get caught off guard. Regularly review how you\u2019re maintaining your personal safety, and make plans with your coworkers to plan together. Check out their full line of tips and products at SABRE\u2019S site and stay safe.<\/p>\n

#BeSafe<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(BROKERAGE NEWS) It is Realtor Safety Month which means we have some information on some incredibly practical and useful products to help keep you safe!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337678,"featured_media":12276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[1678,1234,1677,643],"class_list":["post-12273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-brokers","tag-pepper-spray","tag-real-estate-news","tag-realtor-safety-month","tag-safety"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/09\/stun-guns-header.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/337678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12273"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12275,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12273\/revisions\/12275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}