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In many jobs that you might possibly work, the biggest problem you might deal with is whether or not you can work with all the other people around you in your workplace. In realty however, you often need to be able to work in an office with other people as well as on your own with prospective buyers. 99.9% of the time, your prospective buyers are just out looking to buy a house, but sometimes an agent gets into a situation with someone who is out to rob them or cause them bodily harm. As a realtor, you need to take steps to keep yourself safe.
The first thing you should do when you're looking at ensuring your safety while house showing is get your prospective buyers to fill out the pre-qualifying paperwork. This should have their names, current address, car model and license plate, as well as home and work phone number. Start the good habit of taking a "file picture" for each buyer to attach to their file as well. If you take the picture with your phone, you can send it to your office so that they know who you're meeting as well.
A basic self defense class is never a bad idea for in case of emergency. A good self-defense class should teach you a set of skills that starts with ways to deal with people who might escalate to violence, better observation skills so that you can minimize your vulnerability, and some physical tactics to help you escape if the incident comes down to that.
Another way to be safer, particularly if you're meeting with people who aren't pre-qualified, like at an open house, is to have someone accompany you. Most of the time having an extra person in the house when you're showing it is enough of a deterrent to keep you safe.
Modern technology has given us the personal GPS tracker which is also a good way to help ensure your personal safety. These little devices record and periodically transmit their location to some sort of database. Some of these units also come with the option of a panic button or a fall sensor in case of emergency.
A handgun can be a comforting back up tool of last resort if you live in the United States. If you live in a state that allows concealed carry and you are comfortable with the idea, you may want to look into the purchase of a handgun to be your last ditch backup in case of emergency. However, you shouldn't even think about carrying a handgun unless you are going to invest the time into learning to shoot and taking classes on gun safety. Look into classes about self defense with pistols to get more familiar with that particular aspect of shooting as well. If you live in Canada, this is totally a non-issue as you cannot get a license to carry concealed weapons.
All in all, the bottom line is that you need to take the necessary steps to keep yourself safe by avoiding putting yourself in vulnerable positions. The reason that agents are sometimes targets of theft or violent crimes is because they work alone with strangers in isolated areas at times. Make yourself less of a target and keep yourself safe.
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