Five Questions With: Luis Mateus

Luis Mateus is owner of Mateus Realty in East Providence, which he opened in 1983 after working for several years as a real estate agent for other companies and while maintaining another job in accounting at Rhode Island Hospital. His company has maintained its independence for more than 30 years, focusing on real estate in East Providence and surrounding communities. Mateus employs just three full-time real estate agents, including himself and his son, but had more than 150 closings last year. He spoke recently to the Providence Business News about his business.

PBN: How did you get your start in real estate?

MATEUS: I had [two] jobs for 15 years. I worked at Rhode Island Hospital, and I wanted to finish 20 years there. But in 1975, I was looking in the paper, and I saw a [real estate company] looking for real estate agents. I got my license and worked for that company for quite a few years. Then in 1977, I went with another company. In 1983, I opened my own company. But in the meantime, I always kept the two jobs. I started at Rhode Island Hospital at the age of 16 and retired at the age of 36. I used to run the patient accounts receivable.

 

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PBN: Your real estate company makes a point of advertising that the agents speak Portuguese. Has that helped you grow your business in the East Providence area?

MATEUS: I came to this country at 13 … from Portugal with my parents. By 14, 15, I was working little odd jobs and going to school trying to learn to speak English. [Speaking Portuguese] helps quite a bit. Now, I’m dealing with sometimes third-generation Portuguese people.

I’ve sold houses to their parents, their kids and now their grand-kids. I do [speak Portuguese]. I still have some of the old-timers who come around with their kids. What happens a lot lately, is, the older Portuguese people who I dealt with 30 years ago, they bring their kids in, they know my son is in real estate, but they come in and say: “I want to speak to your father and speak Portuguese.”

PBN: How has the East Providence market changed since you started your real estate company?

MATEUS: It’s changed quite a bit, just like everywhere else. Prices have gone higher. But again, over the years, I’ve been up and down this road. The market has been up and down. If you go to the East Side, when the market really went down, the prices went down maybe 12 percent, whereas in East Providence, they went down, some of them, almost 40 percent. I think East Providence is a very good city to buy, invest and live in.

PBN: What distinguishes your company from so many others who are selling real estate? Are people coming to you because you are a known name in the city, you’re an independent company?

MATEUS: I’ve established a good relationship, an excellent relationship of trust, within the community, and nearby areas over time. I don’t make promises. If I can’t control it, I’m not going to promise you anything. I’m not one to promise anyone anything that I can’t control myself. I’m not going to come to your house and tell you I’m going to get you $300,000 if I think the house is only worth $200,000. I’ll give you my opinion. I’ll listen to yours. I think we can come to a happy medium.

I do quite a bit for a small company. The volume we produce, if you divide it by the three of us, we’re probably doing better than some companies that have 30, 40, 50 agents. We closed, to be exact, 150 sales [in 2017]. I don’t deal with the $300,000 salaries. First-time homebuyers [are] the majority. … [You want] them to come back and remember what you did for them when they were first starting out, when they’re ready for their second house. I have streets in East Providence where I’ve sold the same house in the last 43 years maybe two or three times.

PBN: What is the greatest challenge, and reward, of running and owning a small business?

MATEUS: Everyone who’s ever approached me, to join a franchise, my answer to them was always, look, I have to share my money with my wife and the IRS. I don’t want to share it with anyone else. [I am able] to make a decision, right on the spot, without going to have to ask permission … from someone up above, who you may not even know. The downside to that is, if I screw up, I can’t blame it on anyone else. But you know, like everything else in life, there are pluses, there are minuses, but I wouldn’t do it any different.

Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.