How can you protect your clients when selling real estate?
Updated: Sep 16, 2020
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has been a great resource for providing safety tips and tools for best practices to keep both realtors and their clients safe. September is REALTOR® Safety Month. We can take this opportunity to create more awareness by educating our fellow realtors, buyers and sellers about safety issues and potential dangers associated with selling real estate. To help prevent these dangerous or risky situations, here are a few ways to help you as an agent avoid downfalls that can happen to anyone.
With the risks of COVID-19 still prevalent, all individuals must at all times wear masks, practice social distancing, use hand sanitizer, hand-washing and limit showings to a maximum of 3 people.
For realtors, when showing or conducting open houses, be aware of your surroundings and all individuals who view the home at all times.
Check all of the rooms, basement and backyard prior to leaving and locking up the house.
For sellers, strangers will be walking through your home during showings and open houses. Remove or lock away any valuables in a safe place, such as keys, tech devices and small electronics, credit cards, bills or account information, jewelry and other valuables.
For sellers, be alert when showing the home yourself. Always notify your agent first because not all agents, buyers or sellers are who they say they are. Only real estate professionals using a lockbox should be able to gain access to your home.
With regards to financial transactions with your attorney or mortgage broker, never click on unknown links or attachments from unrecognizable senders. Prevent viruses or identify theft by not giving out personal information to unknown sources.
Being knowledgeable about how to sell real estate in a safe way ensures your clients can trust you and your team of professionals. Ultimately, you will be able to protect everyone involved from the beginning through to the end of a transaction. For more information, access the NAR website for webinars, articles and more tools for REALTOR® safety. https://www.nar.realtor
