Home Security as a Selling Point: What Real Estate Professionals Need to Know
In a segment of Coldwell Banker EvenBay Real Estate's "Leave Your Mark" series, Bolo Stick founder Bill Barna joined the conversation to discuss two topics that intersect more than most people realize: real estate and personal security.
The discussion covered practical safety tips for real estate agents working in the field and how home security features influence buyer confidence. For an industry where professionals regularly meet strangers in unfamiliar locations, both subjects carry real weight.
The Risk Profile of Real Estate Work
Real estate agents face a unique occupational hazard. According to the National Association of Realtors, a significant percentage of agents have experienced situations where they felt unsafe during showings. They work alone, with unknown clients, in unfamiliar properties — a combination that eliminates most of the environmental control that other professionals take for granted.
Barna, drawing on 33 years of police experience, offered a set of common-sense protocols that parallel law enforcement safety practices:
- File a flight plan. Before meeting a client, share your location, the client's name, estimated return time, and enable location sharing on your phone. If you don't return on schedule, someone knows where to look.
- Verify before you go. Use available online tools to research clients before meeting them. Just as opposing coaches study the other team, agents should gather information on unfamiliar contacts.
- Attract attention on arrival. Park on the street with flashers on. Leave the front door open. Make your presence visible to neighbors — anything that draws attention creates a natural deterrent.
- Maintain a reactionary gap. Keep at least two arm-lengths of distance from clients. This allows time to perceive, evaluate, and react to any change in behavior.
- Follow, don't lead. Let the client walk through the house ahead of you. Maintaining a visual on the other person in the room is a basic officer safety principle that applies equally to showing a house.
- Rely on gross motor skills. Under extreme stress, fine motor skills deteriorate as adrenaline redirects blood to major muscle groups. Pepper spray and stun guns require fine motor manipulation. A simple self-defense tool like a kubotan, attached to a keychain, allows striking and jabbing with gross motor movements that remain functional under stress.
Home Security as a Buyer Priority
The conversation also addressed a trend that real estate professionals increasingly encounter: buyers actively evaluating home security features during the purchasing process. According to FBI property crime data, residential burglary remains a persistent concern, and homes with visible security measures tend to generate greater buyer confidence.
Standard door hardware offers minimal protection. As Barna has demonstrated in other contexts, a typical Grade 3 deadbolt resists only about 75 pounds of force — not enough to withstand a determined kick. Buyers who understand this gap are looking for homes that offer more than the baseline.
The Bolo Stick Residential Solution
The Bolo Stick Residential door barricade mounts at the base of the door and anchors into the floor, providing over 4,200 pounds of force resistance. It operates in a single step, requires no special training, and is manufactured from 1045 cold-rolled steel.
For homeowners, it adds a security layer that works independently of existing locks and deadbolts. For real estate professionals, a home equipped with visible security upgrades becomes an easier sell — particularly to buyers with families, those relocating from higher-crime areas, or anyone who has experienced a break-in.
The full EvenBay Real Estate interview is available to watch above. For more on the Bolo Stick product line, including residential, commercial, and school solutions, visit the product page.