Moby launches free Safety Toolkit and Education series for Real Estate Safety Month

VANCOUVER, BC — September 6, 2011 — In the wake of an ongoing series of attacks, real estate agents, brokers, and assessors are demanding more training from their firms and professional associations, according to a survey conducted by Moby. In support of the National Association of REALTORS® annual Safety Month throughout September, Moby an industry software company that provides a smartphone safety app for real estate professionals, released the results of their 2011 safety survey as part of a free Safety Toolkit. Available now from Moby’s website, the toolkit can be used by real estate associations, offices, and individual agents to provide safety education and awareness.

“Many real estate professionals find themselves in situations that put their personal safety at risk, such as meeting new clients alone or visiting unfamiliar neighborhoods at night, which are all considered necessities to simply fulfill the everyday requirements of their job,” says Rob Goehring, co-founder and VP Marketing and Product Management for Moby. “The number of agents and brokers who feel unsafe is alarming, yet they assume the risks as part of the business but have indicated a strong demand for safety training to better prepare and resolve safety issues.”

Moby’s survey suggests 36 per cent of real estate agents felt unsafe on the job, either frequently or occasionally. Ninety-four per cent of women felt unsafe, compared to 66 per cent of men. Regardless if he or she felt unsafe, 54 per cent of the agents stated that their loved ones worried about them. Not surprisingly, viewing vacant properties was regarded as the most unsafe, followed by open houses, foreclosures, private showings, and meetings with new clients. Over 50 per cent of the survey’s respondents carried some sort of weapon with them to protect their safety.

“The use of guns, pepper spray, knives, clubs, dogs, and even hired private security is not as uncommon as one might think,” says Conal Campbell, Director of Alliances for Moby. “But one’s skill and confidence using such weapons in a time of crisis comes only with training, so thus we are seeing a demand for more classroom based self defense, use of smartphone apps like Moby, and general personal safety training by agent’s firms, state associations, and MLS groups.”

Moby’s Safety Toolkit contains the complete Safety Survey results, a safety training seminar, tips for safety “best practices” from leading safety experts, as well as additional safety resources. Throughout September, Moby is also pleased to be working with media partner, ActiveRain, to promote safety, and Moby will be sending weekly safety tips via email and providing an online safety training quiz.  The Safety Toolkit, and a registration form for the Safety Tips can be found at Moby’s website: http://www.mymoby.com/safety-month-2011

About Moby

Moby is a location-sharing and alerting service for staying connected with the people who matter to you. Moby users can privately and easily share their location with trusted friends, family members or colleagues from their smartphone. Requesting help from trusted parties or our professional monitoring center requires only the touch of a button. Moby is available in the U.S. and Canada on the iPhone and a wide range of BlackBerry devices, with support for Android coming soon. Moby is brought to you by the team at Contigo Systems, Inc., leaders in GPS application development since 2002. For more information please visit www.mymoby.com

For further information please contact:
Rob Goehring, VP of Marketing |  [email protected] |   (604) 683-3106 x 223