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Join former CBC radio host Mark Connolly as he sits down with real estate insiders to bring you behind-the-scenes perspectives that answer your questions about home ownership.
With topics that matter whether you’re buying, selling, or staying put, this is the place to get the latest market updates for the Edmonton housing market, hear conversations about housing affordability, learn about mortgage options, and so much more.
Join us twice a month for episodes that cover local trends with context you won’t find in the national news, and get actionable insights that give you confidence for your next move.
The RAEdio podcast is presented by the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton.
Welcome to the RAEdio Podcast brought to you by RAE, the REALTOR's Association of Edmonton. So that's the RAEdio in our radio. We deliver easy to understand market insights, some homeowner tips, perspectives from industry experts so that you can feel informed and empowered wherever you are in your homeownership journey because better decisions start with better information. This podcast was recorded live at 2026 Raycon. And I did wanna warn folks that part of our discussion in this episode will contain a mention of violence and sexual assaults.
Mark:Joining us now are Rob and Beth Andress, the founders of Street Safe Self Defense. Hello, you two, and welcome.
Rob:Mark. Thank you. Thank you very much for having us on.
Mark:Yeah. Thanks for coming in. We appreciate it. Now Street Safe Defense offers general self defense training and training specific to realtor safety. So what led you to creating this company?
Rob:Well, I was a real estate still am registered as a real estate broker in Ontario. And at one time, I operated a brick and mortar business. And I had one of my partners, membership staff experience an incident in a home. But the interesting part of it, the activity involved a husband and wife, And this was the first I'd ever heard of this. And it started me questioning what does our industry actually understand about violence?
Mark:Mhmm.
Rob:And Mark, after eleven, twelve years now of studying this deeply, I am very clear that our industry has no idea at all.
Mark:What's that? So you thought this is something that is very much needed and we need to bring forward?
Rob:It's critical. The last statistics that were put out from the Canadian Real Estate Association listed that nine point six percent of members have been a victim of a crime while completing the duties of their job. Wow. And it doesn't matter the industry you wanna look at across Canada, there's not one in North America that would accept those risks. And there is a major shift or deficiency, maybe I should say, with leadership understanding the reality of violence that the members are facing.
Rob:It has gotten so bad that there is actually a member, a REALTOR, who has started an organization, a company now, where you can hire a close personal protection specialist to keep you alive. Wow. And that is frightening.
Mark:Yeah. Absolutely. Now Beth, you had martial arts training and you still experienced violence while working as a realtor. What did that experience teach you about your personal safety?
Beth:So I'll just kinda confirm with you that I'm not a realtor. Mhmm. I am, however, a brown belt and a blue belt holder in jujitsu, and what happened was that all my jujitsu skills, my law enforcement training, everything went out the window. I became the victim of a sexual assault, which was shocking, absolutely shocking. But I am able to bring that experience with us and understand very much people who have experienced, you know, difficult situations during showings, open houses, that kind of thing.
Beth:And it provides a real connection, real safe place for people to be able to communicate, you know, their their concerns.
Mark:I would think that especially for women who feel vulnerable in many of these situations and you being less vulnerable in some ways because you had martial art training as you said you had some police training
Beth:Law enforcement
Mark:background. It still can happen.
Beth:It can still happen and that's the thing is that people, you know, don't understand. We we need to be able to detect the behaviors, the things that happened before the actual physical assault. And that's what we're, you know, really focused on training people to do. We do have physical skills, but they come at the end because we wanna train people to not experience a situation where those physical skills are required.
Rob:And
Beth:for me, finding myself in that situation, I completely froze. So it's something that when people explain it to me, they're very happy that, you know, they're understood by someone who has actually had an experience that maybe they have had as well, but just haven't shared with anybody yet.
Mark:So when showing a property, what are the obvious risks that people could face? And maybe some less obvious risks.
Rob:Well, Mark, I'm just gonna start back at the relationship because this really is the start of this. REALTOR's hyper focus. They hyper serve. They wanna make sure that their clients needs are looked after right to the very end. They and they are amazing at it.
Mark:Right.
Rob:The problem with this though is violence is a very complicated topic. It is predictable, it's preventable, but we must understand what it is we're seeing. And within the real estate industry, niceness niceness is used as a weapon against the realtor. The attack will not happen until the predator is comfortable enough to understand that he can stage, control the REALTOR, have the REALTOR go to an area within the enclosed environment that they want them to, and then they will commit the crime. And when it happens, there is no lead up notice to this.
Rob:REALTOR's believe that this guy is gonna show up in a dark black hat and a cape. Right. That's not the case. They meet people who are nice to them. That individual, the predator, process predator, will spend time with that realtor.
Rob:The attacks do not happen on the first appointment, like our industry believes. We know today they will happen between the third to seventh unless something spurs it, a fear that the predator feels he is in fear. The REALTOR bringing a partner, a buddy system. That institutes the fear and can oftentimes drive the attack.
Mark:Wow.
Rob:So the big thing that we try and get across to members is one, understand what niceness is. It's a human strategy of deception. We are nice to each other to get what we want. And if we can understand that, it gives a clarity now. If that niceness starts to elevate, if it keeps getting nicer, that is a red flag.
Mark:Wow. Okay.
Rob:If there is nice contact, nice compliments, soft contact on the realtor, this is not sexual desensitization. The predator is risk measuring them. They want to see what is your confidence level. When the REALTOR does not object, does not set a boundary, does not place a fence, this elevates the confidence within the aggressor and they will not strike until they know they're gonna be successful. This is the problem with it.
Mark:So in your program that you have developed, is setting boundaries a really important part of that?
Rob:Very important.
Mark:Yeah.
Rob:And we we don't talk about boundaries. We talk about fencing.
Mark:Okay.
Rob:Now a boundary is something that you will accept. You will accept behavior to a certain point and that crosses your boundary. We don't want REALTOR's to have boundaries. We want them to have a fence. This is it.
Rob:We don't cross this anymore. Right. And we teach them to do this in a very professional manner. Understanding human nature, what the needs are, and I'm going to specific that if the male, it's a male predator, using verbiage that's important to him, words such as I value, I appreciate you, but the touching, the compliments sometimes don't make me feel good. Is it okay that we not do that?
Rob:That's offense.
Mark:Mhmm.
Rob:It's clear. Now, if the individual crosses the fence, the REALTOR needs to make a choice because our history and research in violence tells us that's a door that's just opened and he is going to carry you down the hallway now.
Mark:Yeah. So when you're you're talking to people about this and the experiences they have, like, because I I would think if you're if you're dealing with a person, a client, somebody sharing with us who has knowing knowing, no intention of these kind of things, they're not gonna have a problem with you telling them, these are the way, this is the way I do it because for my own safety. People say, oh, okay. Yep. Absolutely.
Mark:That makes sense to me, right?
Beth:Yes. And, you know, oftentimes we find people are afraid to speak up because they don't want to destroy that relationship because that relationship is how they earn their living. Right. And we try to give them the verbal skills to manage that fence setting so that people don't even climb up the fence to to cross it basically language that they're comfortable with.
Mark:Yep. How how how do people feel about taking the course? How how accepting are they? Are some people trepidatious? I don't know really what this is gonna be about.
Beth:There's a a percentage of people in the industry who feel that they don't need any kind of support or training when it comes to REALTOR safety because nothing bad has happened to them yet.
Mark:Right.
Beth:Or, you know, they're they're big and strong or, you know, they grew up with four brothers or, you know, whatever it is.
Rob:Yeah. Or they their location app.
Beth:Or they have Or
Rob:they make the the call for the RAEd file. All all the things that have been told to them to keep them safe Yeah. Which do not keep them safe. Yeah. At all.
Beth:So what happens is the people that do come to the course, once they download and and understand what they're learning, they all of them, and especially Edmonton, find, they shout it from the rooftops. They send the people from the brokerage, they sometimes they come again just to, you know, share their their knowledge and experiences with their their peers and their coworkers. Right. But most people are very happy. They they really enjoy the course.
Beth:It's a very engaging day. We do scenario training. You know, we do all kinds of really fun things too. It's a heavy topic. Sure.
Beth:It really can be a heavy topic. Yeah. But we've gotten pretty good at Oh, you know For for sure. Making things light and making sure that we're teaching in a trauma informed way too.
Rob:And and part of the issue within the industry as well, there's been safety protocols from leadership that have been provided out. Some of those are like, a full tank of gas, keep your cell phone charged, wear your REALTOR D. Like as if that's gonna keep people safe. And what happens here now is the REALTOR believes, well if I have my cell phone, I'm safe. Yep.
Rob:They have never taken a look at the behavior that happens to these good people Mhmm. At the hands of individuals professing they're going to be home buyers or home sellers.
Mark:What are some common mistakes that people make that could compromise their safety?
Rob:Leading. Leading during showings.
Mark:Where you walk in front
Rob:of the The prospective buyer. Mhmm. In every incident report that we have been made aware of, this was one of the issues that created the door opening for the incident to happen. Yep. So we try and retrain on showing.
Beth:Another kind of area that we find we're doing a lot of education involves basements and going into an underground enclosed environment with a stranger because you are asked about the electrical panel, the water tank, whatever it is. Mhmm. And we kinda like to remind people that, you know, those things fall on house inspectors and and that kinda thing, home inspectors.
Mark:Right.
Beth:But we also empower them not to go into the basement if they don't have to. And if you're feeling uncomfortable, you know, come up with a reason why you don't have to go into that basement. I'm really sorry, I just had knee surgery two weeks ago. You know, you head down, I just can't do the stairs. I'd be happy to look into anything that concerns you or whatever.
Beth:And they just need the permission. That's all they need is the permission. You don't have to do that, and here's the verbal skills to help you.
Mark:Mhmm.
Beth:So, you know, we really overcome those deficiencies as as best we can once we come across them. Mhmm. And just an interesting little story, Rob and I were looking at a a cottage on the East Coast a couple of weeks ago, and there were stairs down to the shore. And I headed down the stairs, and Rob said to the REALTOR, you go ahead. And right, just automatically she said, oh, I'm sorry, I can't go down the stairs, you guys go ahead, I have a bad back, and I am not up to the stairs today.
Beth:And I thought, good for you.
Mark:Yeah. And That's
Beth:it turned out she had taken one of our courses when we were on the East Coast. Yeah. Know, it's easy things that stick with the REALTORs that help them overcome those those problem issues.
Mark:So is this a full day? Is this one day thing that you're doing generally?
Rob:The session itself, we have based it over between a four and a half to five hour session.
Mark:Mhmm.
Rob:What we do, we take the theory and understanding what we have picked up or information shared to us from close to 600 victims, I will say. Yeah. So we can take that, focus it right down, we share the theory behind this, and then in the afternoon, we start going through all the preventive measurements and the reeducation based on fact, reality, and science that you can stop violence. You just need to understand it. Mhmm.
Rob:You need to be able to predict what you're seeing happen and have the skills to prevent it. And if you do, you will never live the after.
Mark:I mean, obviously, you offer this to REALTORs. I would think though that landlords or, you know, people who are maybe even showing their own properties if they are, you know, self, you know, they're not using REALTOR perhaps or even if they have a rental space in their basement. Some of these things would be valuable to them.
Rob:Oh, absolutely. Especially within the tentative market. Yeah. You know, property investors are renting showing tenants their properties, that kind of thing. So it can certainly make a difference there for sure.
Mark:Now, I hear you've developed a safety app that's launching soon.
Rob:Am gonna turn this over to the brains of the operator. Beth. Okay. Beth. Way above my pay grade.
Beth:We have developed a safety hub. I'm not gonna call it an app because so many safety apps do the same thing.
Rob:K.
Beth:They have panic buttons. They have location tracking, that kind of thing. We have none of that in our hub. We have an agent inside the app that is trained on Robin Beth, on our courses, on our knowledge, on our teaching. And inside the app, they can open the app and they can say, hey, Rob.
Beth:I got a really weird phone call. I'm not sure what to do. And the agent will reply in Rob's, you know, voice and and words and explain what's happening, give them some scripts or some things to do, walk them through whether this is a showing maybe they do wanna complete or they don't wanna complete, that kind of thing. We also have three other agents in there. The my favorite is the Scam Buster.
Beth:So you can upload a screenshot, and it will tell you if this is a legitimate text message, email, whatever, or if it's a scam and why. So when it tells you why, that provides the education to be able to see, you know, maybe for yourself in the future kind of thing or share with other people. There is a marketing compliance section. There's an AI governance section, which may not, to the general public, seem like realtor safety, but we're kind to trying to bring it across everything that Right. Realtors have to deal with.
Beth:But the most important thing in the app is the reporting mechanism aside from the, you know, Rob and Beth's input on your day. The reporting mechanism allows you to anonymously submit a report of what maybe happened to you if you experienced an incident. That report comes directly to me, goes nowhere else, it remains anonymous, but what it does is it allows us to send out an alert to everybody else who has the app and and explain, you know, this happened. We give as much details as we can, and it's just a heads up for other REALTORs in the area Right. And in Edmonton to be aware of something that has happened.
Beth:And that in itself is education because there is no other standardized reporting mechanism when it comes to incidents that REALTORS are affected by in Canada. No. So so we're really trying to get that off the ground. It seems to be working well in Edmonton.
Mark:Cool. Yeah. Well, congratulations on the good work you're doing and and what you've built.
Beth:Thank you. I'm just gonna back up one second and Sure. The the app is available or the Safety Hub is available on Google Play Mhmm. And the Apple App Store, and it is free. Okay.
Beth:There's no What's
Mark:it called? How do you find?
Beth:It's called Street Safe for Agents.
Mark:Street Safe for Agents. Yeah.
Rob:And it's free.
Mark:It's free.
Beth:Totally free.
Mark:Awesome. Well congratulations on the great work you're doing. So happy you were here to talk about it with us. One thing I want to ask you and this is apart from what the subject of your interview here, but we asked everybody at the end of a podcast. For you personally, what makes a house a home?
Rob:For me, it's the feeling when you enter inside. I I am a professional real estate broker, and there's something interesting about homes. I have found the homes where I bring clients in, the homes that feel warm. They are the houses they buy, not these septic, clean, still homes. Right.
Rob:A home has to be a home. It has to feel like people live there, and it has to feel welcoming. That is what makes a house home to me.
Mark:Beth, what about you? You wanna contribute?
Beth:A home for me is where Rob and my puppies are with my kids nearby. And that's a home for me.
Mark:That's That's awesome.
Beth:My my security, my everything lives right in my my family ties. So
Mark:Well, Beth and Rob, thank you so much for doing Thank you.
Beth:Thank you, Mark.