Paul Mydelski and Linda O’Koniewski
Titles: Co-broker Owners, Re/Max Leading Edge
Ages: 55 and 52
Experience: 24 years and 22 years
After two decades spent conquering the suburban market, Mydelski and O’Koniewski are convinced they have what it takes to crack the city, opening their 13th office this spring on Newbury Street. They spoke to Banker & Tradesman about their brokerage philosophy, their partnership, and the opportunities they see in the current market.
Q: Let’s start with the simple stuff – how did you guys get started in real estate?
O’Koniewski: What the hell are we doing here, right? [laughs]
Mydelski: My next-door neighbor was in the real estate business, and I was talking to her, and she said I’d be great in this business. And I pursued it from there.
O’Koniewski: I ran an override campaign to raise taxes, and was approached by one of the broker-owners [in my area] who said, “You should sell real estate.” And I said, “Oh, I don’t sell anything, I don’t even want to sell Girl Scout cookies.” And he said, “You sold taxes!” And it actually turned out I had the right background for it. My mother was one of the founders of Boston By Foot Architectural Tours. So who knew, all those high school years of being dragged around Copley Square, it turned out I knew a lot about architecture. So I knew a lot of things about houses that a lot of Realtors didn’t understand.
Q: What made you take the plunge into ownership originally, after working as an agent?
O’Koniewski: My office was going to disintegrate. The broker/owner had left the business, and if I had had to move to my competition I would have slit my throat. This industry is full of people who are just dinosaurs, who are not very progressive. And quite frankly, who take care of themselves and not their clients. And I worked for the most ethical, small, tiny brokerage. And I thought, I want to stay here. Even though it cost me, it was worth it. And then Re/Max New England kind of took notice of me and said, “You’re pretty interesting, you should [help us] grow this office.” They challenged me.
Q: You seem like someone who likes a challenge.
O’Koniewski: I have a tiny bit of a competitive streak.
Q: What about you, Paul? How did you make the transition?
Mydelski: I was an agent for seven years in Cambridge, and always felt I had a leadership spirit, and had a vision for what a company could look like, so in 1998 I took that plunge into ownership. [First as an independent; when I founded] Re/Max Leading Edge, we had literally just signed our franchise agreement on July 15, 2001. For the first six weeks, we worked out of our cars. We officially opened our doors on Sept. 10, 2001. So September 11th was our second day, and our first all-company meeting. I thought we were cooked. We had just started our operations; lots of expenses, but no income. That doesn’t work well. [But we pulled though.] My dream was to have a company of 100 agents – at that time no Re/Max in New England had 100 agents. It didn’t exist here. That was my vision, and now we’ve basically doubled that.
Q: You’ve said you think you take a different approach than some brokerages. What sets you apart?
O’Koniewski: We really think we can redefine the real estate industry. It’s very old-fashioned and slow to change. These big companies are like battleships; they don’t adapt very quickly. And it really does come down to simple things … [traditional real estate contracts are usually binding on the seller, but not the buyer]. We thought that was crazy. Why are agents binding sellers in contracts without review of an attorney? So we added a protective addendum to our contracts that no one else has. The second thing we see that’s very prevalent in Back Bay, is that people want to sell everything themselves, get two sides of the commission and not one. Short-term, it seems like more money. But really, how can you build a reputation with outside clients if you’re not getting exposure and top dollar? So, it sounds very simple, but one of our promises to all our clients is that they do get full market exposure with us. I wish I could say we’re just doing things the way they should be done. But it’s so rare to see them done.
Q: Obviously the Back Bay office is your main project right now. What’s your next goal?
Mydelski: The challenge is to be the number-one company in the Back Bay.
Q: That’s a pretty big hurdle.
O’Koniewski: We’ve been dead last before.
Mydelski: When we started in 2001, we were dead last in Winchester. Today we’ve been the market leader eight years in a row.
Top 5 Tips On Getting From Last To First:
- Get your clients top dollar to build reputation.
- Be disciplined. It’s a long race – both Mydelski and O’Koniewski are avid triathelets, a hobby they say helped them learn to focus.
- Help open the buyer’s
eyes to value. - Take advice – the two of them rely on each other’s strengths to improve different aspects of the business.
- Operate in different
spheres – by having offices in the city and the suburbs, Leading Edge can move
with their buyers.
