Showing safety procedure

1. The office policy

Covers every agent and staff member who meets the public alone: showings, open houses, first meetings with new clients, and visits to vacant property.

1. Before every appointment alone, the agent records the address, who they are meeting and that person's phone number, and starts a timer for when they expect to be done.
2. Open houses check in every 30 minutes, not just at the end. A three-hour open house that checks in once leaves nobody aware of trouble for hours.
3. New clients are confirmed before a meeting at a property. Meet at the office first, or call back the number they gave and keep a photo of their ID. Their name and number go to the office.
4. No signal means tell the office first. Before a property with poor or no signal, the agent says so and keeps the timer short.
5. Every agent has a safe word. Checking in with it means fine. Anything else, typed or said when asked, means "I need help and can't say so."
6. The office has a distress phrase for phone calls, for example "Can you pull the red file for me?" If an agent uses it, the office calls 911 with the address and says nothing about it on the call.
7. A missed check-in gets the steps in part 4, every time, by whoever is watching. Most are a forgotten timer. That is not a reason to skip them.
8. Every new agent is walked through this in their first week, and the whole office reviews it each September, which is Realtor Safety Month.

2. The agent checklist

Before you go

• Address, client's name and number in the timer
• A new client's identity confirmed
• Phone charged
• Parked on the street facing out, never blocked in a driveway
• Timer started; for an open house, check-ins every 30 minutes

While you're there

• Let the client walk ahead of you, through rooms and down stairs
• Stay between the client and the way out
• Skip basements, attics and garages with someone you don't know
• Phone and keys on you, not in a bag
• If something feels wrong, leave first and explain later

When you're done

• Check in with your safe word
• Running late? Add time before the timer runs out
• Tell the office about anything that felt off

3. What to tell your contacts

Read this to the two or three people who will be told if you don't check in, then send them a practice alert so they know what one looks like.

"I've added you as one of my safety contacts on Belayr. Before I show a house alone, I start a timer. If I don't check in, you'll get a text from Belayr with a link.

Open it. It shows where I was going, where my phone was last and who I was meeting. Then call me and ask, 'What's the word?' The page shows you the word I picked.

If I say anything else, sound rehearsed, or don't answer, call 911 and give them the location on the page. You don't need to install anything."

4. When an alert comes in

The order of the calls depends on what kind of alert it is. Every version leads with the address, because that is the first thing a dispatcher asks for.

Missed check-in

1. Call the agent. Most missed check-ins are a timer somebody forgot.
2. If they don't answer, call 911 and give them the address.
3. Tell everybody else watching that you are on it.

Panic button

1. Call 911 now and give them the address. The agent pressed the button themselves.
2. Then try the agent.
3. Tell everybody else watching that you are on it.

Signaled for help (a wrong safe word)

1. Call 911 and give them the address. Say the agent may not be alone.
2. If you call the agent, have a reason ready that is not Belayr, and do not mention this alert. On their phone it looked like a normal check-in.
3. Tell everybody else watching that you are on it.

Then hand responders the police page. Don't go to the property alone; let the police lead. Afterwards, write down what happened and when, and go over it with the agent.

5. The police page

One printed page with what an officer asks for first. Belayr builds it from the alert; without Belayr, keep these details for each appointment. This one is a sample with invented details.