If you're selling your home as a FSBO ("For Sale By Owner"), you must keep safety in mind when meeting potential buyers. Assaults on real estate agents have increased over the years. For that reason, those who are selling their homes by themselves also need to take care when arranging to meet with strangers.

Here are tips for protecting your home, yourself and your family from being victimized.

First, get to know as much as you can about a potential buyer. Before making the appointment for a buyer to see your home, ask for their full name (first and last), current address, and a telephone number. If you're comfortable gathering more information, ask even more screening questions, such as where they're employed, if they have relatives in the area, and why they are interested in your property.

Secondly, show the house by appointment only whenever possible. Don't let someone into the house if they haven't called ahead unless you're spoken with them extensively and have all their contact information. Buyers working through real estate agents must make appointments to view houses, and there's no reason they can't also make a professional appointment with you, the seller. Whenever possible, make sure you're not alone in the house with a stranger who says he's interested in the property. If you're alone in your home when an unexpected visitor arrives, ask them to come back later when someone else is home with you.

If you must show the home while you're alone, make sure you have a cell phone with you. If you feel the potential buyer is acting dangerously, you can call 911 for help. If your potential buyer turns out to be a criminal who is really there to rob you, get away and run to a neighbor's house. Your life is more valuable than your possessions, and your things can be replaced.

Along the same lines, tell children not to allow strangers into the house. Even if your children are mostly independent teenagers, make sure they know not to let a possible buyer into the house unless you or another adult is there, too. Assaults on teens and young adults in their early 20s are not uncommon, so for everyone's safety, no strangers are allowed unless a parent is at home.

Next, be careful when considering the use of virtual tours. You may be opening yourself up to having your home scoped out by a criminal if you go the virtual route. Make sure no expensive objects such as pricey electronics or gold jewelry are in view if you decide to attempt a virtual tour as an option for selling your home.

Additionally, use your neighbors as a safety resource. Criminals have been known pose as potential buyers and may use an open house or a walk-through to scope out properties to rob later. If you let the neighbors know you are selling your home, they can alert you if they spot anyone acting suspiciously around your property when you are not at home.

Finally, let curb appeal double as a safety device. Keeping up the curb appeal of your home not only increases the value of your home but also makes selling your home safer. When interviewed, criminals say they look for high bushes near windows, poorly lit areas of a home, and concealed entrances. They may scope out a home during an open house and then come back later to rob it. To prevent theft, trim your bushes low, repair or add higher wattage light bulbs, and keep entrances well lit.

If you're serious about doing your real estate transaction as a FSBO, make sure you have a safety plan in place and let your family in on the plan. That's the best way to attract real buyers and discourage criminals from pegging you as an easy target. Most of your potential buyers will be honest, respectable folks, but it's better to be safe than sorry.