MARION, Iowa – For agents like Amanda Baccam, the first warm weeks of spring bring a flurry of business.

“The spring market is our busiest time of the year,” said Baccam, a Marion-based agent for Iowa Realty.

Baccam and so many other agents say they are paying more attention to safety when showing properties after last week’s shooting death of Ashley Okland. Investigators say Okland, 27, was found shot to death in a West Des Moines property that she had an appointment to show. Police have not arrested a suspect in her death.

The accessibility through cell phone contact, email addresses and websites must be balanced out by the need to stay safe.

“I think a lot of realtors forget the safety,” said Baccam, who also trains newer agents on how to handle themselves when working with relative strangers. “We just assume everything will be fine when we go to these appointments.”

Okland’s death comes three months after an incident in Ottumwa, where police arrested two men for a serious assault on a female agent who was showing a property. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, in 2009, a total of 71 real estate work-related deaths, with 30 of those from what are classified as “violent acts/homicide”.

Some of the small steps that agents can take during a show, Baccam said, can make for a safer environment.

“When you do go to an open house, we park on the street in case we have to get away,” said Baccam. “When we are showing houses, we try to walk behind the client.” She said that she has “had stalkers” coming to open houses in the past.

The issue of agent safety is nothing new to Tim Taylor, owner of the Cedar Rapids Karate Institute. Taylor said he has worked with groups of local real estate agents.

“It is mostly awareness,” said Taylor. “They can take safety, self-defense classes, karate, but that takes a lot of time. Years of training to become very proficient at self-defense. It is not an acquired skill in two or three hours.”

If an agent is considering carrying a weapon for protection, Taylor said items that are specially-designed may cost a little more but are more efficient when under attack.

“You see these store-bought weapons like mace or pepper spray,” Taylor said. “One of the problems with the off-the-shelf self-defense items is they are just not effective.”

He demonstrated defense items for us, including ”military-grade tear gas” and a high-powered flashlight with sharp edges that slash the skin of an assailant.

Baccam said she has considered carrying more items for defense but isn’t sure she is ready for that step. Yet last week’s death still resonates with agents during their busy season.

“We are a little more aware now.”