Jorge and Kim Prado of Prado Real Estate are self-proclaimed tough sells. Coming from a corporate world background, Jorge’s initial reaction is to stay away from big names, and in the beginning stages of building a relationship with Keller Williams, he was erring on the side of caution. All this changed the moment he and Kim accepted an invitation to Family Reunion. “We got there, and we were blown away,” he says. “The Keller Williams model was almost identical to the Prado Real Estate model.” Today, the 12-agent-strong firm joins as an indy – and they are thrilled about the partnership.
Since opening the Prado Real Estate office in 2008, the husband-and-wife duo has gone through three different brokers. Though running a successful business, Jorge and Kim share that work was creating distance within their marriage. “When Robert (MacFarlane, team leader) approached us, I was certainly ready for a change,” says Kim. “We worked hard and laid the foundation, and as a company we were self-contained and paved our own way. We have done a lot of things that align with Keller Williams.”
Similar to KW, Prado Real Estate are innovators – both within their industry and in community engagement. Their office, located in downtown St. George, Utah, falls within the town’s historic district, spanning across three buildings. “We are the mavericks in town,” shares Jorge. “We painted the first mural downtown on the side of one of our buildings. Since then, the local government invested $30,000 in a mural conjoined to ours, and even added concrete and lighting. They’re making it a destination.” To showcase even further support of the art industry, the pair donated their space for St. George’s annual Arts and Designs Parade, hosting more than 5,000 people.
On the business front, as they were thinking about their future three years ago, Jorge and Kim decided to pivot, putting together a basic platform and framework for running their business virtually and recruiting statewide. Once their state began closing down, they had no trouble adjusting to the demands of working from home.
What the duo has created is a testament to their individual personalities, which learned to function together and capitalize on each other’s strengths. “To live together, work together, and run a successful business together is unique,” Kim shares. “Jorge and I are both very strong, dominant, energetic people, and while we see the end vision as the same, how we choose to get there is very different. This would not exist without the both of us. And, with Keller Williams, we feel like we have the security to continue selling real estate and have the freedom that we’re looking for in 10, 20 years from now.”