Great Offices: How 2 Brothers Are Crushing It in Houston

The small-print slogan that brothers Minesh Patel and Nimesh Patel placed below their RE/MAX logo when they revitalized the RE/MAX Fine Properties office in Sugar Land, Texas, speaks volumes.

“It’s time to expect more,” it reads.

The brothers purchased the faltering brokerage five years ago, during the height of the recession. At a time when many brokers were shutting down shop, the Patels saw an open door, with RE/MAX on the marquee.

“RE/MAX is simply the best of the best,” Nimesh says. “We knew it was important to keep the RE/MAX brand because of the global reach in addition to the local market presence.”

Nimesh is on the Realtor and tech side of the tag team, often clad in a three-piece suit. Minesh wears a trim polo shirt and specializes in the financial side of the business.

Together, they’ve forged a high-tech operation complete with a large training center, bullpen-style office area and support services all under one roof.

Located in a shopping center off a busy highway in Sugar Land, a residential suburb of Houston, the office features cozy furniture facing large-screen monitors that display listing information. Agents’ offices line the perimeter of the rectangular, 10,000-square-foot building.

The setting is a fusion of contemporary and traditional.

“Being here in a traditionally conservative county, we want to stay with the traditional values and look,” Nimesh says. “We still have crown molding, but that doesn’t mean we can’t modernize as well.”

Inviting aesthetics and state-of-the-art technological support were only part of the equation.

“We had to figure out how to take a struggling office in a down market – when agents were getting out of the business in droves – and revitalize it,” Minesh says.

The answer was to get back to basics, with an eye on the future.

GROWING TOGETHER

The Patels brought varied experience to the helm of RE/MAX Fine Properties. Although born in London, the brothers grew up in Sugar Land. Their father, accountant Bhasker Patel, and their mother, Maya, were drawn to the area during the oil-and-gas boom of the early 1980s.

Nimesh, the elder by three years, went into IT work, while Minesh worked in the finance sector, in institutional stock trading. Nimesh got his real estate license in 2002, as did his mother, and they both worked for RE/MAX Fine Properties. Maya is semi-retired now, but keeps an eye on things.

“She’s the office mom,” Nimesh says. “She puts us in our place, right in front of all the agents.”

The brothers grew up with separate friends and interests. But when they both moved to California to pursue careers there, they grew closer.

“After we started getting into business, we went from being family to being friends,” Nimesh says.

The brothers eventually found their way back to Texas; Nimesh moved back in 2002 and Minesh returned in 2007. Then came the recession, and Minesh was laid off from his corporate job.

“I got with my brother and we started a business.”

RE/MAX Fine Properties was on the brink of foreclosure; the brothers bought the business in 2009 and set out to revitalize the office and boost market share.

Technology was updated. The office went paperless. A Facebook page and Twitter presence followed, along with virtual tours and YouTube videos.

The previous owner’s large office became a training center with a 175-inch projection screen. The brothers invited lending, insurance and energy partners to set up offices in the building.

“We wanted to make it a one-stop shop,” Minesh says.

BEHIND THE SCENES

The brothers also concentrated on inward changes. They revitalized office culture among the agents who stayed on, and they offered new Associates training support, on-the-spot merit bonuses, and ample face time with the brothers to set goals and assess what was working.

They hired support staff members and cross-trained them to understand all aspects of the business and run the office more efficiently. They also brought on motivated, team-minded Associates, and fostered a relaxed, family-style atmosphere based on mutual support and open communication.

Collaboration extends to office meetings, where Minesh’s finance background fuels teaching sessions, complete with presentations on up-to-date market statistics. Meetings are no longer than 45 minutes and are often attended by as many as 60 agents.

“We look at our agents as business owners and entrepreneurs,” says Minesh, who shares teaching duties at office meetings with his brother.

Adds Nimesh, “The most successful strategy we’ve had over the past five years is teaching them how to run their business as a true business.”

Associate Terri Kurkjian, a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient who has been with the office since early 2013, says, “The meetings are always worthwhile. The brothers are very informative and conscious of everyone’s time; they’re very good.”

Community work is also a collaborative office project, including a partnership with the Texas Sentinels Foundation to provide wounded veterans with fully furnished, debt-free homes that are ADA compliant. In addition, the brokerage is one of the Houston area’s top RE/MAX contributors to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and its agents help raise funds for Arc Thrift Stores.

“We do anything we can to make everyone’s jobs both fulfilling and fun,” Minesh says.

‘LIKE ONE BIG FAMILY’

Their strategies are working.

In five years, the number of Associates has almost tripled, from 45 to 120, and sales volume and commissions have quadrupled.

Today, RE/MAX Fine Properties is the largest single RE/MAX office in the state of Texas.

“There’s a great deal of professionalism here,” says Associate Rande Wagner. The 20-year veteran joined RE/MAX Fine Properties in 2013, in part because of the culture.

Wagner is among 89 agents in the office who qualified for an award at the 2014 RE/MAX of Texas Convention. The Hall of Fame member earned her way into the Platinum Club in 2013.

“We’re always striving to improve and do things the right way,” she says.

Hall of Fame member Sherrie Fontenot has been with the office since 2001 and watched the rebuilding take place.

“It feels like we’re coming home every day when we come to work, and that makes us want to be more productive,” she says. “We’re like one big family.”

// MARKET SNAPSHOT // FORT BEND COUNTY, TEXAS

POPULATION: 643,408 IN 2013 (354,452 IN 2000)
AVERAGE HOME SALES PRICE: $250,000 IN 2013

Part of the Greater Houston area, Fort Bend County was the fifth-fastest-growing large county in the U.S. between 2010 and 2012. The Houston area led the nation in single-family home construction in 2013 with 28,339 housing starts. Houston home starts were up 20 percent in 2013 over 2012. (Source: MetroStudy)

RE/MAX FINE PROPERTIES 2013 MARKET SHARE*
No. 1 » Listing Sides Sales Volume at $191.3 million
No. 1 » Selling Sides Sales Volume at $195.4 million
No. 1 » Transaction Sides Sales Volume at $386.7 million
No. 1 » Transaction Sides Sold Units at 2,221

*For all property types (Source: RE/MAX of Texas market Intelligence)