Personal safety is at the forefront of people's’ minds today-- especially real estate agents. The job of a residential real estate agent includes meeting with strangers, often alone and in secluded locations at surprising hours of the day or night. All of these variables can make working in real estate quite dangerous.

Chief executive officer and cofounder of Trust Stamp for Realty, Andrew Gowasack, came up with the idea behind creating an app aimed at maintaining safe encounters between real estate agents and their clients.

“Realtor safety is critical in today's marketplace,” says Gowasack. The original idea for TrustStamp.re came from the realization that more and more real estate professionals are unintentionally practicing blind trust with potential clients. As the online presence grows within the industry, the founders felt that it is imperative to the safety of agents that they know who they are meeting before they actually meet them. And so, Trust Stamp for Realty was created. Essentially, the app runs a background check that allows agents to get a better understanding of the people they will be meeting on a daily basis.

How it works:

According to the TrustStamp.re website, simply put in your basic information as you register and the app will save all of it for you. Once registered, TrustStamp.re uses built in web tools that allows the agent to invite their potential clients to join. The client will then receive a link asking to create their profile. After uploading a quick selfie, submitting a photo of their government-issued ID and a link to their preferred social media account, they are now able to share their profile with you through the app.

After the client has shared their profile, the agent is able to view their name and the picture of themselves they have uploaded. The information is checked across sexual predators in the area as well as criminal records. TrustStamp.re then shows a green, amber or red safety indicator that is intended to communicate the clients potential trustworthiness. A green indicator means TrustStamp.re found everything that you would normally expect from a typical home buyer. Amber implies there is a relatively small issue found in the client’s profile and the color red suggests there is a public data conflict between the client and the data that the app found. “It is not saying ‘don’t go and meet them,’ it is a suggestion of the amount of caution you should take when meeting with them,” said Gowasack, “And if someone refuses [to use the app], now you've gotten a valuable bit of data because it means this person doesn't want you to see them.” An important aspect of the app is that TrustStamp.re will not disclose an exact cause for an amber or red indicator to ensure client privacy. Additionally, all of the data that is entered into the app is treated as bank-level security. So after review of the client’s profile, the client’s data is deleted from the system.

From open houses to closing meetings, TrustStamp.re is readily available to help aid in building trust between agents and their potential clients. The creators have also started to add an extension safety tool into the app that Gowasack calls the “predilection score.” This added score gives agents an idea of how likely a client is to buy a home within the next six months. The predilection score also indicates the price range of potential clients without needing any new information. TrustStamp.re looks at previous homes that the client has rented and/or owned and uses this as another data point for the agent. The goal of this added feature is to allow agents to prioritize their leads all within the same app that protects their safety.

Using Artificial Intelligence, Truststamp.re was created to safeguard real estate by protecting the agent and their business. The app is free to every member of the National Association of Realtors® and you can register on the website at TrustStamp.re.

Interested in learning more? Watch as Andrew sits down with HomeSmart International Chief Operating Officer Wendy Forsythe to discuss TrustStamp and what it means for the residential real estate industry at the 2018 HomeSmart International KEY To Your Success Event.