Herman Walldorf & Co, Inc. is the first Chattanooga real estate office to earn the Safety Certified Office certification. The company earned that certification by establishing safety protocols for their Realtors to follow.
“After Arkansas realtor Nancy Carter, was abducted and killed in 2015, I started looking around at the realtors who make up Herman Walldorf & Co. I realized that we have many female realtors, and I’d never want that to happen to any of our Walldorf & Co. realtors,” said Walldorf & Co., Inc. Secretary-Treasurer Nathan Walldorf. “I was also in a position as the president-elect of GCAR to help spearhead a Safety Certified Office program, which GCAR just launched."
The Safety Certified Office program helps keep realtors and their clients safe. It consistently gives realtors safety tips that they can pass on to their clients. It also makes sure that realtors are getting information about the people they meet before meeting them. The 2016 GCAR president, Nathan Walldorf, said, “The public needs to get used to the fact that Realtors are going to ask them for a copy of their ID before showing them homes.” Realtors will have an office buddy system in this program, so that someone else knows where and with whom they are showing homes. There are also safety apps and tools that are available to realtors to help them be located by police in case of danger. Lastly, every Safety Certified Office will have its doors open to realtors from other companies to meet clients for the first time at their office when needed. Realtors cannot take a phone call asking for a property showing, pick up, and meet an absolute stranger at a vacant property any more. They have to be smart and protect themselves.
Herman Walldorf & Co., Inc. has more history in Chattanooga than any other real estate firms. The company was founded n 1926 by Herman Walldorf. Herman’s sons Charlie and Rudy Walldorf run the firm now and have both been in the business for over 50 years. Nathan Walldorf is Herman’s grandson, who sells real estate and trains residential realtors in his office.