We don't think of selling houses as a dangerous job, but more than 10 agents are killed nationwide every year and dozens are assaulted. But a new alarm system developed in Bothell offers help and hope to agents everywhere.

Three years ago there was shock and dismay when someone murdered agent Mike Emert while he was showing a Woodinville house. But violence against real estate agents is not uncommon.

"Every time I say it, I'm always shook up," said Margaret Wojcicki, who is telling the story of what happened to her close friend, a real estate agent, 15 years ago. "Really hurt her very badly, she was raped and beaten and left for dead."

Then, just over a week ago, a man attacked an agent holding an open house in Edmonds.

Real estate agencies don't like to talk about it, but agents know they are targets. "The important thing is to be alert;" something Associate Broker Wojcicki has learned during her 20 years in real estate.

But soon, agents will have something to rely on other than just their instincts. It's a personal alarm system, called RealGuard, developed by Todd Hodgen, Margaret's husband. "I started this idea out of concern for my wife Margaret."

Horrified by the stories of violence, and worried about his wife, Hodgen came up with a personal protection system made up of three inter-related components.

The agent carries a hand-held transmitter with a panic button and 125-decibel alarm. The transmitter's panic button also sets off two other alarms -- one an agent puts inside the house they're showing with two 125-decibel alarms, the other installed in an agent's car.

All together, the alarms make quite a racket. "Your number one defense in an attack is typically noise," says Hodgen. "You want to get the attacker off of you, change the rules of the game."

Hopefully, it's enough to distract or discourage an attacker and give the agent time to get away or bring help.

And prevent another tragedy.

Initially, the system is the three on-site alarms. But eventually, RealGuard wants to add remote monitoring, so when an agent hits their panic button, it sends a signal that could call in security. But that component is still in development.

RealGuard just received certification from the Federal Communications Commission and can now go ahead with marketing and distributing the systems.

The three alarm RealGuard system sells for about $320 and can only be purchased through Real Estate Associations. The Bothell-based company should have their first models available by the end of the month.