The Blog

In light of the tragic news regarding Realtor® Beverly Carter, I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s post to the safety of real estate professionals. It’s ironic, really. As children, we are told to never talk to strangers, yet our job as real estate professionals often involves meeting strangers at remote locations.

While nobody knows when something awful may occur, the good news is that smartphone apps and smart jewelry are modern-day safety devices may very possibly help a real estate professional out of a jam.

Here are three safety apps to explore:

• bSafe Set up a network of your loved ones and they can follow you via GPS trace. Then, if you press the app’s alarm in an emergency, they’ll get an alert with your exact location. bSafe will record audio and video from your phone in case you want to present it to the police later.
• Guardly Depending on whether you have the standard or premium service, Guardly can send emergency alerts not only to your loved ones, but to 911, and even campus police, too. It also has an interface that lets you place an emergency call when your phone is locked, and to do it much more quickly than you’d be able to normally.
• Life360 Life360 runs on your mobile device to allow you to view your family members on a map, communicate with them, and receive alerts when necessary.

Even if you don’t like jewelry, the concept of “smart jewelry” could save your life.

Here are a few sites that offer smart jewelry (some have companion apps):

• Cuff Whether you want this for safety or just for notifications and alerts, the buttons on bracelets and necklace interact with an app on your mobile device. Just touch something on the bracelet, and an emergency notification can be sent via your cell phone.
• Artemis Arguably more stylish, these fashion necklaces connect you to a private security operator that can record audio and get help to your location.
• FirstSign The tiny pod can be put on a necklace, attached to a keychain or put on a hairband. It connects to a mobile app, which sends messages that include your location information.

There are many more apps and smart jewels out there that can help facilitate safety. Keep your guard up, and ask your broker or office manager to see about scheduling local law enforcement to come to your office and give a short talk on staying secure and safe in the modern world.

Please join me in expressing heartfelt condolences to Beverly Carter’s family and friends.