10 September Stay Safe! REALTOR® Safety Resources by Jacky Mueck Membership 0 0 Comment 316 By Jacky Mueck Advocacy and Communications Administrator for Maryland REALTORS® Thinking about your safety before your alarm bells are set off during a showing or open house is the best way to keep you prepared and out of harm’s way. Simple steps, like letting someone else know where you are and who you’re with, meeting new leads for the first time in a public space, and more, keep you from being completely alone with someone you might not want to trust. Most REALTORS® know and follow these steps, but did you know about some of these key resources for you and your colleagues? NAR’s Safety webpage gives REALTORS® access to tips, the REALTOR® Safety Network, and much more. You can file an incident report to notify other members of safety concerns, view webinars, articles, and other resources, and more. Review the Top Five Safety Action Items for REALTORS® like planning your safety strategy and taking the REALTOR® Safety Pledge. Learning the steps you can take now to keep yourself safe in the future is an important investment you can make with your time. In this 4-minute video on Safety Best Practices for Real Estate Professionals, you can review the basics of proactive ways to prioritize your safety, including avoiding basements and attics on showings with new clients, and more. Remember to comply with any regulations for self-defense sprays, and that any safety practices you can never be used in a discriminatory manner. The REALTOR® Safety MLS Fields article highlights the fields REALTORS® can use when inputting listings to the ML that might seem irrelevant at first, like minimal or no exterior lighting and remote/limited visibility from the road, but can change how you or another REALTOR® would prepare for the showing. Referring to this list of helpful categories in the MLS can help keep others in the industry safe with accurate information. The REALTOR® Safety First Course has been offered by Maryland associations in the past to give REALTORS® the tools and knowledge they may need. Contact your local association if you’re interested in the course to ask when it may be offered again, or if there is a similar safety course being offered. If you work at an Association, the Safety Toolkit for Associations can help structure safety programs and educational resources for your members. NAR offers resources, like the ones above, as well as guidance for how associations can incorporate safety into their current programs and the office. AS24, REALTOR Safety, Resources, Safety Share Comments are closed.