Our Mission Statement: Provide the Customers/Clients the most Ethical, Professional and Effective Services in the Real Estate Industry. Volunteer Realty was started in 1962 by founder Gordon T. Smith as a one-man office in the back room of his father’s hardware store. After many years of hard work, the company grew to over three hundred agents to become the largest agency in East Tennessee and a source for the most knowledgeable real estate professionals in the area. The extensive training programs developed and engaged by Volunteer Realty produced most of the real estate leaders currently involved in real estate in Knoxville and East Tennessee. The company is now owned by his son, Gordon Scott Smith. So the foundation of the business remains the same: hard work, personal relationships, constant pursuit of personal and professional growth, and the ability to adapt to meet the needs of an ever-changing marketplace. As a locally owned company and not a franchise, Volunteer Realty Company is always renewing itself and is recognized for being an expert leader in East Tennessee real estate.