CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® offers innovative tool to provide REALTORS® with mobile personal safety service
LOS ANGELES, CA – January 16, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) today announced it has entered into an affinity partnership with Guardly, a leading provider of mobile personal safety applications, to provide a smartphone app that helps REALTORS® stay safe on the job.
Guardly is extremely pleased to team up with C.A.R., the largest state association of REALTORS® in the country, for its Keep Safe Program for REALTORS®. Guardly will offer the REALTOR® safety mobile application to C.A.R.’s 155,000 members.
Guardly is a mobile smartphone application that can help REALTORS® feel safe and secure while on the job. Guardly empowers its users by providing one-touch access to their safety network. Simply launching the Guardly app on a smartphone will instantly identify a user’s location and alert family, friends, co-workers, managers and 911 operators that he or she has an emergency. Beyond simple notifications, Guardly instantly connects users to their contacts through conference call, instant messaging and real-time location tracking. Built-in security features include the ability to snap and share pictures of an assailant and sound a loud whistle.
Guardly’s Keep Safe Program for REALTORS® provides REALTORS® with peace of mind when performing the everyday duties of their job including hosting open houses, meeting new clients, working late at night and showing vacant properties in unfamiliar locations.
In a recent National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) safety survey, 67% of respondents said they have experienced safety concerns, incidents, or other harassing situations while working as a REALTOR® . An NAR survey from 2010 also indicated that 93% of respondents aged 40 years old or younger used a smartphone to conduct real estate business and 86% of respondents older than 40 use a smartphone .
“With criminal attacks against REALTORS® on the rise and the prevalent usage of smartphones by REALTORS®, it was a natural fit to equip our members with Guardly as a tool to stay safe,” said C.A.R. President LeFrancis Arnold. “We encourage members to take advantage of this technology and to share it with family, friends, and clients.”
“It is amazing to see the interest from REALTOR® associations in such a short time frame,” mentioned Luke Slan at Guardly. C.A.R. is an extremely visionary and innovative association and is an obvious leader in the field. I expect many other associations to follow their lead in recognizing the importance of REALTOR® safety and make this product available to their members.”
The Guardly Keep Safe Program for REALTORS® encourages C.A.R. members to form groups or buddy systems, which act to connect managers, colleagues, family and friends in case of emergency and facilitate communication between parties to provide assistance. In offering Guardly to its members, C.A.R. is reaffirming its commitment to REALTOR® safety and encouraging its members to activate and share this safety tool.
For more information, visit www.car.org/members/memberbenefits/carmemberadvantage/.
Leading the way… ® in California real estate for more than 100 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States, with more than 160,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.
About Guardly
Guardly’s platform for emergency communication facilitates rapid social, mobile and location-aware responses to calls for assistance. Smartphone users that find themselves in an emergency situation can alert, connect and collaborate with local authorities, campus security as well as their own safety groups in a single tap. Guardly is committed to dramatically decreasing the amount of time it takes responders to arrive at an emergency. The company is a member of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and is based in Toronto, Canada. For more information visit: https://www.guardly.com.
