Martial arts instructor offers safety tips for Realtors®

Realtors® are constantly traveling, meeting new clients and many times visiting homes alone. Safety can tend to take a backseat. This is why the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has designated September as Realtor® Safety Month. It is a time to build awareness and remind real estate professionals that safety should be a top priority.

When it comes to your physical safety, the most important thing you can do is trust your instinct, according to martial arts instructor Suk Jung Kim of Kim’s Institute of Martial Arts in Hershey. “Criminals control ability and desire. You control the opportunity,” said Kim. “Always be aware of your surroundings.”

Kim offers his four “A’s” for self-defense:

• Avoidance: Trust your gut feeling. Avoid any situation that seems dangerous or doesn’t feel right. If you aren’t trained with a weapon don’t use it.

• Awareness: Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Create a safety circle. Know ahead of time where all of the exits are located. If entering a room with only one exit always let the client enter first.

• Attitude: Always maintain a positive attitude and the self-confidence to handle any situation you’re faced with.

• Action: Establish a standard safety operating procedure with your office. Call your office to check in when you arrive and leave a location. Create a distress code you can use to phone into the office if you feel you’re in a dangerous situation. Be proactive not reactive.

Kim, who regularly teaches courses on self-defense and pepper spray training, recommends taking a self-defense course so you will know what to do in the event of a dangerous situation. “Don’t wait for a situation to occur before implementing safety procedures in your office,” he added. “Always be safe.”

Police officer Zach Fehrenbach of the Lower Paxton Police Department in Harrisburg agrees. “Always inform someone in your office where you’re going, how long you’re going to be there and who you’re meeting,” he said. “Get to know the neighborhood beforehand and let neighbors in the area know you’re showing a house. Always have your phone on hand and 911 set on speed dial.”

Smart phone safety applications are also available to Realtors®. Moby offers a free phone app that allows Realtors® to share their location with friends, family and colleagues with the touch of a button. The app allows Realtors® to alert contacts if they’re in danger as well. In honor of NAR Safety Month, Moby also created a safety toolkit for real estate professionals available as a free download.