Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
There are several areas that pose a risk for the workers, and the real estate domain, as rewarding, challenging and beautiful as it may be, comes with its share of potential jeopardy. Real Agent Guard comes as a useful tool to help both employers (real estate agencies) and family to keep an eye on their agents/loved ones while showing a property.
Now, as an important mention from the beginning, this is not a free “tool”. However, the app comes at a reasonable price: for real estate agencies the price is around $1/agent/month and for families/friends is $4.99/month (soon to be released, according to the official website). But why should this app be on your radar?
Real Agent Guard App can be easily downloaded by any real estate professional (and it’s free). Once the setup is complete, the agent will see the three main safety features: Panic Button, Failsafe PIN, and a Bailout Button. The Panic Button, as you may imagine, calls 911 if pressed for three second (alerts are also sent to the Monitors); the Failsafe PIN can be introduced by the user to sent and alert to Monitors (which are trained to call the law enforcement for help), but the phone and app acts like everything is notmal (no warning to the aggressor); finally, if pressed for three seconds, the Bailout Button allows the agent to call any designated person. The Real Agent Guard mobile app for Monitors is aimed at helping them to find out instantly when a realtor is in trouble and take the proper measures.
Real Agent Guard also provides an Open House Video Monitoring option which basically transforms a tablet (even a tablet) in a live video-camera. The agent has to log-in and launch the video monitor (and allow access to the web cam) and that’s all. If anything goes wrong, measures can be taken in no time. This option comes at a $19.99/month/agency, regardless of the number of agents.
As a side note, the company recommend all real estate professional who use Real Agent Guard to add some watermarks on their social media profiles, even on printed material so that anyone with a bad intention to know that that agent is monitored and to decrease the risk of anything bad happening.
Before any property showing, the real estate agents are encouraged to take photos of the people they are meeting and to upload them into the app (car number, face) to be used in case of emergencies. Also, before the showings, realtors start a countdown timer (they set the length of that timer and they can also change it at any time and are the only ones who can stop it with a personal PIN.) Apparently the timer remains on even if the phone is turned off or destroyed and, if not stopped by the agent, sends an alert to Monitors letting them know that something is wrong.
Now, though I agree that taking a photo of the car and of the people a real estate professional meets is not exactly the best way to start a property showing and gain trust, I do believe that such an app can be useful for all the parties. It’s definitely a tool that you want it to be there, just in case, but hope to never use it! No one wants to be in danger, but going alone to meetings, not knowing anything about the people you are about to meet is risky. No one wants trouble, but when trouble finds you, you should definitely have some safety measures in place.
Real Agent Guard received $250,000 in funding from XCelerate Capital and recently announced in a press release a new personal security system and that The Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors is the first Realtor association in the country to adopt and pay for the security app for all 1,800 members.
