Brokerages, Banks and Title Companies Across Region Teaming up for Agent Safety

The Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors is working out a system where banks, title companies and brokerages across the region agree to create a safe harbor for agents meeting with clients for the first time.

Under the safe harbor program being developed, agents would have a client fill out a basic questionnaire and then the hosting business, whether it be in Prairie Grove or Bentonville, Siloam Springs or Fayetteville, would scan and email the form back to the agent’s home office.

This could come in handy when agents are out on the road and have to meet clients off-site, said Doyle Yates, president of the regional board and a member of the Arkansas Real Estate Commission.

“People are buying into this,” Yates said. “This is going to work.”

Yates said the heightened awareness for safety comes in the wake of a recent spate of violence against agents. In April, a woman attempted to rob a Fayetteville agent at gunpoint. And in September, Little Rock agent Beverly Carter was murdered. In both instances, the agents were meeting new clients, or individuals whom they thought were new clients, off-site for the first time.

The safe harbor program is a supplement for Real Agent Guard, a mobile security app developed by a Rogers startup that serves as a personal security system for real estate agents.

Together, they are meant to send a message to criminals.

“We’re no longer your target,” Yates said. “We’re a hardened target now.”