Real estate agents say building business is all relative

Does it seem like everybody and his mother is selling real estate these days? Actually, it's everybody and his mother, father, wife, sister and in-laws, or at least some combination thereof.

Take Kim and Brad Knowles, who are associates with Windermere Real Estate. One recent Sunday, the siblings hosted two open houses within three blocks of each other in Montlake.


		Mike Urban / P-I
	From top, Keller-Williams Realty agents John Thompson, owner/associate broker, his wife Barbara Thompson, lead buyer specialist, and their son David Thompson, lead buyer specialist, look through a few listings in the front window of their West Seattle office.

Brad teamed up with Kim in 2003, after nine years in commercial real estate. Kim, who has been in real estate for 15 years, said her brother was an improvement over previous partners.

"The one thing it comes down to is, you can trust your family," she said. "I think it's just a matter of knowing the business is going to be done the same way you do business. I know I don't have to worry about things."

The Knowleses and other real estate agents who work with family members say having a reliable partner is important in a business with long, odd hours.

"We can kind of give each other breaks and relieve each other," Brad Knowles said.

While some family partners team up on listings, others specialize on particular tasks. Within Keller Williams Realty's John Thompson Team, for instance, John is in charge of listings, while his wife, Barbara, stages houses and works with mature buyers, and their son, David, takes the lead with buyers.

Car dealerships, funeral homes and wineries are some of the most common family businesses, although there are families in every field, said Ann Kinkade, director of the University of Wisconsin's Family Business Center. "Family businesses are the vast majority of businesses."

She said real estate did not stand out as a family industry, although she knew of a Wisconsin family where the husband and wife, four of their five daughters and two sons-in-law were in the business.

Tom Bunbury of Wisconsin's Restaino Bunbury & Associates Realtors said his oldest daughter got her license first, then the others followed, allowing him to train each as they joined. The fifth is still in college.

"They all had different majors," he said. "I didn't think any of them would get into the real estate business."

Real estate agents who have gone into business with parents say they were roped in young as message takers, particularly before the prevalence of cell phones. They got a sense of the profession's demands, but its reality still took some by surprise.

"There's an illusion of flexibility and freedom," David Thompson said. "One of the challenges is giving yourself time off, because you could work literally every single day of the week."

The need for agents to be available at all hours drives them to seek out partners, but non-family teams don't last, Bunbury said.

"In time they fall apart because there's an argument, somebody tells the other one off, and people go their separate ways," he said. "With family, nobody's going to go away, so you've got to deal with them."

Working with family members creates different complications, Kinkade said. "There's all the emotional issues that you have in your family setting that you have to learn how to manage in a business setting. That's why our center exists."

For Mary and Jane Orvis of RE/Max Northwest Realtors, going into business together meant redefining their mother-daughter relationship. After the first week, Mary said, Jane told her to stop asking "those dumb mother questions," such as "Where were you?" and "When are you coming back?"

David Thompson said friends marveled at his ability to work with his parents.

"We did need to involve a coach just to help us get beyond some little stumbling blocks, where maybe family stuff would be injected into a business relationship," he said.

The hardest thing is leaving work at work, John Thompson said. "We set boundaries so when we're off, we don't talk business."

Erik Zaugg, who teamed up with his dad, Mike, at Russell Jones Real Estate 2 1/2 years ago, said the partnership has gone better than either expected.

"I think we're able to separate our personal time from our business time, although my wife probably doesn't feel like that," he said. "She probably feels like we talk too much business when we get together."

Brad Knowles said it's easier when your partner's your sister, rather than your spouse.

"You're not taking it home to dinner with you," he said.

Kinkade said most common family industries tend to depend heavily on reputation and personal interaction. David Thompson said he gained from relationships his dad built over the years, and has strengthened his own relationship with his parents.

"That's been the No. 1 benefit for me," he said.

P-I reporter Aubrey Cohen can be reached at 206-448-8362 or aubreycohen@seattlepi.com.

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