Every real estate agent knows the feeling. A number you don't recognize texts you about a vacant house. They want to see it tonight, they're "cash," and they can't really talk on the phone right now. Most of the time it's a real buyer. Sometimes it isn't. The job is figuring out which one before you're standing alone in an empty basement with a stranger.

Safety is our number one priority at Winner Realty. Not a slogan on a wall, an actual written standard every agent here follows, every client, every time. This post lays out exactly what that standard is, the tools we use, and why we think every Louisville and Southern Indiana agent should run their business this way, whether you hang your license with us or not.

Why realtor safety can't be an afterthought

The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) surveys its members about safety every year. In its most recent residential safety report, 22% of agents said they'd been in a situation that made them fear for their personal safety or the safety of their personal information. The most common moments were open houses (34%), threatening or inappropriate texts, emails, or calls (31%), and showings (31%).

A few more numbers from that same report stuck with us. 86% of agents showed properties alone. 40% met a brand-new client alone at a secluded location or property, up from 35% the year before. Women, who make up about two out of three residential REALTORS®, reported fearing for their safety at more than double the rate of men. And only 53% of agents said their brokerage even had standard safety procedures.

That last one is the one that bothers us. Almost half of agents are out there with no playbook. We're not okay with that for our people.

Step 1: Run every phone number through Forewarn

Forewarn is an identity verification and safety app built for real estate professionals. You type in a phone number (or a name if you don't have one) and within seconds it shows you who that number belongs to, their address history, property ownership, financial records like bankruptcies, liens, and judgments, and a nationwide criminal records search.

Here's the best part for local agents: the Greater Louisville Association of REALTORS® (GLAR) provides Forewarn to its members at no extra cost through its Metro Search MLS. Bluegrass REALTORS® in Lexington and Central Kentucky offers it to its members too, and so does the Southern Indiana REALTORS® Association. If you're a member of any of those and you haven't activated it, you are leaving a free safety tool sitting on the table. Check your association's member benefits page or go to forewarn.com.

Our standard at Winner Realty is simple: before you meet anyone new, the number goes into Forewarn. Buyer, seller, tenant, "investor," doesn't matter.

How to read a Forewarn result the right way

• You're checking one thing first: is this person who they say they are? If the name they gave you matches the name on the number, that's a good start.
• Several people can be tied to one number, like family members or a previous owner of the number. Don't jump to conclusions.
• A criminal record doesn't automatically mean someone is dangerous. Forewarn shows traffic infractions in that section too. What you're looking for is anything that tells you to slow down, bring a second agent, or meet at the office first.
• Not finding someone doesn't mean fraud. Ask a couple more questions, try a name search, or ask for the documents in Step 2 and Step 3 before you schedule.
• If something genuinely worries you, call your broker before the showing. Not after.

Step 2: Pre-approval letter or proof of funds before every private showing

At Winner Realty, we request a mortgage pre-approval letter or proof of funds from every buyer before we schedule a private showing. All of them. The first-time buyer, the cash investor, the out-of-state buyer, the guy who says he's a friend of a friend.

Here's why we're comfortable asking. Our agents take time away from their families to show houses. Some of them hire babysitters. Some of them step away from other jobs or other clients. That time is real and it costs something. A buyer who has already talked to a lender or can show the money is a buyer who has skin in the game, and that tells us the showing is worth the trip.

It also screens out a lot of the people who were never buying in the first place. Someone who wants to "just see the inside" of a vacant house at 8 p.m. and won't send a pre-approval usually tells you everything you need to know by not sending it.

What counts:

• A pre-approval letter from a mortgage lender (not just an online pre-qualification). If a buyer doesn't have one yet, point them to our guide on how to get pre-approved for a mortgage in Kentucky.
• For cash buyers, a recent bank or brokerage statement in the buyer's name showing enough to close. They can black out account numbers. We only need the name, the date, and the balance.
• For investors using hard money or private lending, a letter from the lender.

Step 3: A copy of the buyer's photo ID

We also ask for a copy of a driver's license or other government photo ID before meeting someone new. It takes ten seconds, and it lets the agent and the office know exactly who they're meeting and where.

Two rules we hold ourselves to here. First, we never ask for a Social Security number. We don't need it and we don't want it. Second, the ID gets stored securely and is only used to confirm who's coming to the showing. It doesn't get passed around, posted, or shared.

Step 4: Same steps for every client. No exceptions.

This is the part a lot of agents get wrong, and it matters as much as anything else on this list. Fair Housing training has said it for years: if you ask for ID or a pre-approval, you have to ask everyone. When an agent only asks certain people, that selective screening can be discrimination, even when the agent doesn't mean it to be.

So our standard isn't "verify the people who make you nervous." It's verify everyone, the same way, before the first meeting. That protects our agents, it protects our clients, and it protects the people we're screening, because they all get treated exactly the same.

Step 5: Showing day habits that keep you safe

These come straight from NAR's REALTOR® Safety Program and from what our agents have learned the hard way over the years.

• Meet new clients at the office or a public place first, like a coffee shop, before you ever meet them at a property.
• Share your schedule. Someone should know the address, the time, and the client's name. Turn on location sharing on your phone with a family member or a coworker.
• Check your phone battery and signal before you go. Some vacant properties have almost no service.
• Show before dark when you can.
• Let the client walk in front of you. Don't lead them through the house.
• Don't go into attics, crawl spaces, or closed garages where you could get trapped. Point and let them look.
• Park where you can't be blocked in, and keep your keys on you.
• Don't host open houses alone. Bring another agent, a lender partner, or a friend.
• Don't overshare. Your kids' school, your home address, and your vacation dates don't belong in your marketing.
• Trust your gut. If something feels wrong, leave. You can always reschedule. You can't undo the alternative.

Step 6: Verify sellers too, because seller impersonation fraud is exploding

Safety isn't only about who shows up to a showing. It's also about who's on the other end of the listing. Seller impersonation fraud is when a scammer pretends to be the owner of a property, usually vacant land or a house the real owner doesn't live in, and tries to list and sell it out from under them.

In the American Land Title Association's 2026 study, 59% of title companies said they'd run into at least one seller impersonation attempt in the prior year, up from 28% in 2024. In June 2026 the FBI put out a public warning about fake sellers using stolen personal information, fake IDs, new email accounts, and internet phone numbers to sell vacant land they don't own.

Our agents verify sellers the same way we verify buyers:

• Run the seller's number through Forewarn and compare the name to the owner on the county property records.
• Get a copy of the seller's photo ID and make sure it matches the deed.
• Talk to the seller live, by phone or video. A seller who refuses to ever get on a call is a red flag.
• Watch for the classic pattern: vacant land or an empty house, priced under market, cash buyer only, seller "out of the country," wants to close fast and remotely.
• Let the title company know right away if anything feels off. They are your best partner here.

Step 7: Protect the money, not just the people

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 12,368 real estate fraud complaints and more than $275 million in losses in 2025. That's up from about $173 million the year before. A big chunk of closing-day fraud is fake wiring instructions: a scammer gets into someone's email and sends a buyer "updated" instructions right before closing.

Our rule: wiring instructions never change by email. Buyers verify any wire by calling the title company at a phone number they already know, not one in the email. We work with trusted local title partners like Next Title and Borders & Borders, and we tell every client this rule at the start of the deal, not the day before closing.

Step 8: Legal backup when you need it

Sometimes the scary situation isn't physical. It's a contract question, a disclosure problem, or a client threatening to sue. Kentucky REALTORS® runs a Legal Hotline that gives broker members and their designees direct access to a real estate attorney for questions on real estate law. At Winner Realty, our principal broker, Lisa Tucker, has that access, so when one of our agents runs into a legal question, it goes straight through Lisa to the hotline instead of the agent guessing or paying an attorney out of pocket for a quick answer.

On the Indiana side, Indiana REALTORS® offers a similar legal hotline for managing brokers. And for anything that needs real legal representation, not just information, we'll point you to a real estate attorney.

The tools and resources we use

Want the buyer-facing version to send your clients? Share our post on why we ask for pre-approval, proof of funds and ID before showings.

• Forewarn, for identity verification on every new number. Free through GLAR, Bluegrass REALTORS®, and the Southern Indiana REALTORS® Association.
• Flexmls and ShowingTime, so every showing is scheduled and logged. There's a record of who was going where, and when.
• Dotloop, so contracts and documents get signed and stored electronically instead of being passed around in email attachments.
• Our title partners, Next Title and Borders & Borders, who verify identities at closing and help us catch fraud before money moves.
• The Kentucky REALTORS® Legal Hotline, through our broker, for legal questions.
• NAR's REALTOR® Safety Program at nar.realtor/safety, with free safety tips, webinars, and the REALTOR® Safety Network, which sends out alerts when there's a threat agents across the country need to know about.
• Location sharing on your phone, turned on during every showing.
• The Jefferson County Clerk's free ClerkAlert service, which we recommend to every property owner we work with (more on that in our seller safety guide).

Why this matters if you're thinking about switching brokerages

A lot of agents come to us from bigger shops where safety was a one-hour training once a year and then you were on your own. Here it's part of how we operate. You get a written standard, a broker who picks up the phone, and an office that knows where you are.

You also keep 85% of your commission, and get residential and commercial leads in your inbox every morning at 6:30. If that sounds better than what you've got now, take a look at what it's like to join Winner Realty and book a time to talk with Rob. We'd love to meet you, at the office, in daylight.

Frequently asked questions

Is Forewarn free for real estate agents in Louisville?

For REALTOR® members of the Greater Louisville Association of REALTORS®, yes. GLAR provides Forewarn as a member benefit at no additional cost. Bluegrass REALTORS® and the Southern Indiana REALTORS® Association offer it to their members too. Agents outside those associations can buy a subscription directly from Forewarn.

What does Forewarn show about a client?

Using just a phone number or a name, Forewarn shows identity details, phone and address history, property ownership, financial records like bankruptcies, liens, and judgments, and a nationwide criminal records search.

Can a realtor require a pre-approval letter before showing a house?

Yes. Many brokerages require a pre-approval letter or proof of funds before private showings. The key is applying the requirement to every buyer the same way. Asking only some buyers can create a Fair Housing problem.

Is it legal to ask a buyer for a copy of their driver's license?

Asking for a photo ID before meeting someone new is a common safety practice. Ask every client, store the copy securely, and only use it to confirm identity. Never ask for a Social Security number for a showing.

Who can call the Kentucky REALTORS® Legal Hotline?

The hotline is a Kentucky REALTORS® member benefit for brokers and their designees. Agents should route legal questions through their principal broker.

What is seller impersonation fraud?

It's when a scammer pretends to be a property's owner and tries to list and sell it without the real owner knowing. Vacant land, empty houses, and properties owned free and clear are the most common targets. Verifying the seller's identity against county records and talking to them live are the best defenses.