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The company's longtime leader and family patriarch, Kelly Klamen, will retire at the end of 2024 after 43 years and will hand over the firm to his sons, Chad, Jake and Ryan Klamen.

"Business can be challenging. Sometimes family can be challenging. All that being said, overall, it's greatly rewarding knowing that you're working with somebody that you love and getting to see somebody that you love every single day," said Chad Klamen.

Kelly Klamen's maternal grandfather started the company in 1927, buying and fixing up houses and relying on relationships and print advertising to grow the business. 

Today, the company has expanded into rentals, property management and commercial real estate. Each brother has his own focus: Chad, who oversees distressed properties and property management; Ryan, who focuses on residential real estate and property management; and Jake, who oversees the commercial side.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q. Kelly, why did you have your sons work elsewhere before joining the family business?

Kelly: I wanted them to come in with their feet running. Go and learn from these big companies, so when you come in, you already have training in place, and then we can fine tune it once you got in. It worked out.

Ryan: Learning is sometimes the hardest part, and sometimes it's better to hear feedback from somebody who is not your family. It's good to come in and not be a blank slate.  

Q. What type of residential property does the company target?

Chad: Usually somebody, an agent, attorney or direct seller, calls us with a need for an easy real estate solution. From a criteria standpoint with distressed properties, we're looking to make a certain percentage return, like 20%. Our sweet spot is a market value below $500,000 after it's been fixed up. 

Q. How did you venture into property management?

Ryan: We had clients who came to us and didn't want to manage their own property. We've organically grown to managing other people's properties. 

Q. The ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ had seen an uptick of home investors, especially corporate landlords. How has the company been able to compete with those companies?

Chad: We carry an advantage from all the work my dad's put in before and my grandpa before that, like having a strong relationship base and network in St Louis to begin with. An out-of-town company can come in, but they don't have the built-in network that we do with people that are already here. I think that's a really big piece to our lead generation equation. 

Q. Jake, why did you pursue commercial real estate? 

Jake: There's less emotion. It all comes down to economics. I got into it because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I met with developers and brokers, and started with commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap with retail. Then I was like, I can do this on my own.

Q. How did you manage succession planning? 

Kelly: We hired a coach who's been helping us through it. 

Ryan: We've had her for about two years. She's been very helpful with the business side but also how we work with each other and how we will work without Dad. 

Q. Kelly, what are your plans for retirement? 

Chad: We made a bet about how many times he's going to come in the office. 

Ryan: I think he'll step into the office 30 or more times by June. He thinks he's not going to step foot in there. 

Jake: I'll take the over. 

Kelly: All right. Other than not stepping foot into the office, I play pickleball. Also, I've always been intrigued by magic. I'm going to hire a magician to teach me.