About SafeShowings
SafeShowings was started by Helen Hudson, a Charleston REALTOR® who was alone in a house with a stranger and realized no one knew where she was or who she was with. Read her story in Why SafeShowings?
That moment started it. Associations, MLSs and the agents who use SafeShowings every day shaped what it became, and what they taught us changed our approach:
The safest showing is one where you know who you’re meeting before you meet them.
Three layers of agent safety
Every safety practice, and every SafeShowings feature, fits one of three layers. Each layer catches what the one before it missed.
| Layer | Best practice | SafeShowings feature |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Avoid bad contact | Confirm the person actually holds the phone they gave you | Self-verification text link, which defeats spoofed or borrowed numbers |
| Check how the phone number is registered | Carrier and line-type check (real mobile line vs. internet or throwaway number) | |
| Check who is associated with the number | People associated with the phone, compared with the name you were given | |
| Go deeper when you need to | People Search and optional Criminal Record Search | |
| 2. Deter | Tell every client you use a safety app | Every showing records who you’re with and where you are |
| Keep a record of who is with you | Client name and phone saved with each showing; open-house visitor check-in | |
| Make identification visible | Optional client photo | |
| 3. Protect | Never rely on your phone surviving | Safety timer runs on our servers, not your phone |
| Keep someone informed as you move | Reset the timer or add a stop at each property to update your location | |
| Have an automatic alert | 5-minute warning, then emergency contacts get your last checked-in location and who you’re with | |
| Have an immediate alert | Emergency Alarm: hold for two seconds and contacts are alerted right away with your exact location at that moment |
Verify before contact
Pepper spray, a gun and a photo at the door all have one thing in common: they only matter once you’re already face to face. By then you’ve driven across town and given up your afternoon, and if the “buyer” is running a scam, you’re already exposed to it.
So SafeShowings starts earlier, with the simplest check there is: is this person who they say they are? Before the showing, we confirm the client actually holds the phone they gave you, so a spoofed or borrowed number won’t pass. We check how that number is registered, and who is associated with it. It’s lighter than a background check, and it answers the question that matters first. If you want to go further, a criminal record search is there.
At contact
Once you meet, two things work together: deterring bad intent, and protecting you if something still goes wrong.
Deter
The strongest deterrent is simply that you’re using SafeShowings and you say so: “I use a safety app for every showing. It records who I’m with and where I am.” Someone with bad intentions now knows they’ve been identified and that someone else knows where you both are. A quick photo makes that even stronger, but the conversation is what does the work.
Protect
Start your showing before you walk in. The safety timer runs on our servers, not your phone, so it keeps running even if your phone is taken, broken or turned off. Each time you reset the timer or add a stop, SafeShowings updates your location. If the timer runs out, your emergency contacts get your last checked-in location and who you’re with. Need help now? Hold the Emergency Alarm and they get your exact location at that moment.
Today, SafeShowings partners with REALTOR® associations and MLSs across the country to give their members that protection on every showing.
Leadership
Helen Hudson
Founder & CEO
Helen is a REALTOR® in Charleston, South Carolina, and a former property management executive, a field where checking ID before every tour is routine. After a showing that left her afraid for her safety, she founded SafeShowings to bring that same accountability to real estate. She has taken that mission to associations nationwide, was selected for the Harbor Entrepreneur Center accelerator and Inman Connect’s Startup Alley, became an RPAC President’s Circle investor, and appeared on the cover of Charleston Women in Real Estate. Her goal hasn’t changed: every agent should know who they’re meeting.
Steve Reynolds
Chief Technology Officer
Before he wrote a line of SafeShowings code, Steve was running skip traces and background checks for Pinkerton, whose background-screening business became part of ChoicePoint and eventually LexisNexis. That work taught him the lesson the platform is built on: a record check is only as good as the identity it’s attached to. Verify the person first, and everything after it means something.