Family Business Awards 2013: Succession Award

WINNER: Windermere Real Estate

Seattle | 40 employees, 6,200 agents | windermere.com

In 1972, banker John Jacobi decided he wanted to own his own business and he talked the owners of a small Wedgwood real estate firm into selling if he could prove himself within a year. His idea was that he was going to build the company based on relationships. … He wanted to hire the best people, give them the best tools and let them build their own business, says son John OB Jacobi. OB and his sister, Jill, grew up with the firm, sweeping the sidewalks and helping out in the office as it gained a dominant position in Pacific Northwest real estate. Today, they work together as presidents with Jills husband, Geoff, serving as CEO. The three purchased the company five years ago from John Sr. in a long-term buyout. They now oversee an operation with 300 offices spanning the western United States, expanding this year to Alaska and Mexico. Most offices are franchises; only 11 offices in the greater Seattle area are owned directly by the Jacobi family.

Like other real estate firms, Windermere was hit hard by the recession: Sixty offices closed and about a quarter of its agents exited the business. But real estate is picking up again. The firms revenues grew 19 percent between 2011 and 2012, to $543 million, and are expected to increase again next year. OB Jacobi says the family team is in it for the long haul, preserving the firm for a third generation. We dont think about profits today so much as we think about our kids who are going to take over and what we are going to leave them with, he notes. It is a whole different way of thinking about business.