How Often Are Agents Alone With Prospects? (And How Dangerous Is That, Really?)

Working as a real estate agent is perfectly safe most of the time. When it's unsafe, however, it's usually due to the fact that agents meet frequently with people they don't know very well at private home showings or open houses, which can put them at risk.

A recent WAV Group study into agent safety variables asked real estate agents how often they are alone with prospects and what steps they take to keep themselves safe at work. Here are some of the findings around agent interaction with their clients.

Most Agents Are 'Always' or 'Often' Alone With Prospects

Nearly three-quarters of agents (74.9%) said that they are always or often by themselves when showing homes to new prospects. A small proportion of agents (12.7%) said they are rarely or never alone when showing homes to new prospects. This response was more common for women: Almost 20% of female agents (18.7%) said they are rarely or never alone.

When they know they are going to meet a prospect alone, most agents (66.4%) said they rarely or never ask someone to accompany them. About one in ten female agents (10.2% of female respondents) said they always ask someone to come with them when they are showing a home to a prospect they've never met.

It's Not Always Easy to Ask for Help

Follow-up questions attempted to dig into why agents are not asking for company when they go to meet a new prospect by themselves. The reasons why male and female agents choose not to seek company in these circumstances showed some interesting differences.

For men, the primary reasons they don't ask for company were, in descending order:

• Sure they can handle any situation that arises (42.6%)
• Never thought about it (18.7%)
• It's difficult to coordinate schedules (13.5%)
• Don't want to have to share commissions or payments (6.5%)

For women, the primary reasons looked somewhat different:

• It's difficult to coordinate schedules (23.0%)
• Don't want to bother anybody (14.2%)
• Sure they can handle any situation that arises (13.4%)
• Appointment scheduled at the last minute (12.3%)

How Technology Can Help Lower Risk

Whether agents are deciding to meet with clients without any company as a result of personal preference or because aligning schedules is too difficult, there are tools available to help agents balance the risk and the reward of their daily duties.

One option for agents is to create a protocol with supervisors or friends whereby they check in every time they arrive at or leave an appointment. The iOS 17 update has a native way to do this in Messages, but a text message works just as well if everyone involved knows the safety protocol and follows it.

Stay tuned to read the full survey results soon!