Raising the Bar on Real Estate Success
When brothers Nimesh and Minesh Patel decided to go into business together, they leveraged their rich backgrounds in technology, finance and real estate to take over Sugar Land, Texas-based RE/MAX Fine Properties in 2009. Since then, the firm has consistently improved upon its numbers year-over-year, with remarkable accomplishments in agent productivity. The secret to the Patel brothers’ success? A hands-on, business-focused, supportive relationship with each of the firm’s 180-plus agents. Read more about the pair’s mindset for success in this exclusive interview.
Maria Patterson: Please briefly describe your career path and how you came to lead RE/MAX Fine Properties.
Nimesh Patel: Before real estate, I was in IT and moved out to San Francisco to work with some big firms in the area. Dot coms were doing really well in the late ’90s and early 2000s, but I was missing my friends and family, so I moved back to Texas. I got my real estate license in 2002 so that I could create some investments for my future. I ended up being fairly good at it and joined RE/MAX Fine Properties. There are still people here now that taught me real estate back then.
Minesh Patel: We were both born in London and raised here in Sugar Land. I went to college in Houston, and in 1999 moved to California to join my brother in searching for a career opportunity after graduation. I majored in business and finance and landed a great job with Barclays Global Investors on the hedge fund side. I came back in 2007 to be with my family, but stayed in my industry and signed on with another hedge fund. Then in 2007 and 2008, the world collapsed. I was laid off and the industry went down the drain for the next several years. Opening my own business was always a lifelong dream of mine, so I decided to partner with my brother. By January 2009, we bought RE/MAX Fine Properties.
MP: That must have been an interesting time to get into real estate!
Minesh Patel: There were a lot of concerns. We were buying into an industry that was collapsing and hemorrhaging rapidly. No one wanted to buy a house. Everyone was scared. Real estate had come to a grinding halt and the subprime market collapsed. Agents were leaving the industry in a mass exodus. The positives were we were coming into a business that was distressed. We were buying in a down market as opposed to an up market, so it was easy for us to negotiate a lot of important variables.
Nimesh Patel: We knew that if we got into the business at a discounted price, and put our energy and effort into it, we could build it up and stay on the positive side of things right off the bat. I liked the fact that this was going to be challenging, but if we worked hard, there was a lot of potential.
MP: How many offices and agents does the firm currently have?
Nimesh …read more
From:: Real Estate News