DS News

46 A BURGEONING INTEREST IN MORTGAGE FIELD SERVICES Klein vividly remembers exploring a number of potential businesses, but nothing grabbed him, until he learned about a company that did property inspection and maintenance for the mortgage industry. After 12 years, the partners wanted to dissolve or sell the business. Robert heard about the opportunity, did his due diligence, and learned that Secure Properties Inc. covered two states, Ohio and Indiana. For some reason, he liked what he saw. "I can't really tell you why. It just appealed to me," Klein says. "I just liked the concept of doing property inspections for mortgage companies." He bought the company in 1990 and kept the familiar initials SPI by changing the name to Safeguard Properties Incorporated. His first hire was a woman who had worked for the previous incarnation of the company, and she trained the newbie in how to do boots-on-the-ground property inspections. She also contacted all of the former clients and field contractors to inform them that she worked for a new company. About six weeks later, they got their first call from a potential client, and they are still a client today. But when Klein contacted the contractors to do the preservation work, they refused because his predecessors still owed them money. A graduate of the "do what's right" school, Klein took a risk, knowing that the contractor could abscond with the money. "I wired the money," he says. "He did the work well, and that was our first job." en another client came in, and another, and another, and Safeguard was up and running, cutting lawns, replacing windows and cleaning out vacant houses. ANOTHER KEY HIRE Several years into his new business, Klein made another critical connection. While visiting his family in Brooklyn, his sister took him to the home of a childhood friend. When the friend learned that Robert had a daughter, she boasted that she had a fine, young nephew, Alan Jaffa. She met Alan. e two wed the following year, and after some convincing, Klein got Jaffa to join Safeguard in October 1995. He wisely had his son-in-law rotate through all departments, starting with Inspections and progressing through Vendor Management, Property Preservation, Insurance Claims, and so on. Jaffa spent his fair share of time manning a bank of fax machines, receiving, and processing client orders each day. "It was one of the best jobs Robert ever gave me," Jaffa confirms. "ere was no better way to learn this business than to have to clear the fax machines." Of course, as the boss's son-in-law, Jaffa encountered some suspicious, "Who does this guy think he is?" glances from some employees. "My approach was always, 'Hey, I'm just trying to learn. I'm not here to take your job,'" he says. "Back then, I had no other goal than to learn and understand the business." Naturally inquisitive, Jaffa fondly recalls a favorite part of his day: 5 p.m., when most of the staff went home. He would roll his chair over and corner his workaholic father-in-law in his cubicle in the center of the office. en he'd pepper him with questions: What are you doing now? What's that for? But why do you do that? "I was like a little kid," Jaffa concedes. He knows that his timing was fortunate, especially because he got to observe Klein in the formative years of Safeguard's commitment to continuously enhance its business practices. By doing so, it evolves the way properties are inspected and maintained for clients and for the communities, and just as importantly, improves the way the industry operates. "Robert and Safeguard were the masterminds behind continuously evolving all of the different services that we offer," Jaffa says. "It's our job to know before the client what they're going to need down the line, and furnish even richer, more comprehensive information for them to use." Klein had already devised the company's foundational mission: Customer Service = "It's our job to know before the client what they're going to need down the line, and furnish even richer, more comprehensive information for them to use." –Alan Jaffa 25 Years of Safeguard 1990 » Safeguard Properties Inc. founded by Robert Klein » 2 employees » 5,430 inspection performed 1992 » SPI launched – Safeguard's internal operating system

• Cover