REMAX Pace Realty’s Roger Pace Gives Back to Businesses and Community

REMAX Pace Realty’s Roger Pace Gives Back to Businesses and Community

For REMAX Pace Realty's owner Roger Pace, life isn't about getting ahead, but helping others get ahead.  His love for real estate and love for the community has been a consistent part of his life. It's through this dedication to his career and strong desire to help out community members that Pace has set himself apart from others.

"Real estate didn't begin for me right away," says Pace. "I actually began my career working for my own software development company with my brother, who was a commercial contractor in the late 70's."

Pace graduated from Purdue University and worked in industrial construction during the summer. Along with his brother's experience in accounting and Pace's experience in the field, led to the creation of their own software company.

Pace and his brother developed a construction job cost accounting package software. At a time when this kind of software was not common, their creation was running in 28 states, being utilized by larger businesses such as United Airlines and Arthur Anderson.

"This was during a time when the microcomputer was just coming out and this where at a time when a lot of software did not exist," says Pace.

"My brother was a programmer and I was the marketing arm," says Pace. "However eventually my brother left the company and I was left to invest with the company and for the next two years began to buy and sell real estate. I eventually obtained my real estate licence and affiliated with a broker who also did the same."

Pace eventually obtained his own broker licence and formed Pace Realty in 1990, using business savvy and foresight to align with Century 21, a national brand at the time.

"As an individual real estate company, it is very hard to compete against a national franchise," says Pace. "It's hard to match their technology and resources, hard to train them and hard to grow."

Pace bought the Century 21 franchise, using their name for 20 years, with their peak employment hiring over 100 agents and staff members working for them.

After the real estate crash of 2007 and 2008, Northwest Indiana lost one-third of the previous number of real estate agents, forcing Pace Realty to consolidate their number of offices and realign themselves with the new number one brand of real estate, REMAX.

"It was an obvious step to take," says Pace. "Each brand, like each individual, is different and we went with the brand that is more agent-centric, the ones who promote the agent. All leads go to them and their signs have their photo and phone number on it. Being an agent myself you understand the importance of this."

Pace credits REMAX's agent-centric attitude as a far contrast to a more Wall Street mentality and bottom line attitude, allowing their entire hierarchy of leadership to consist of real estate agents, even at the very top.

"By giving us the tools and the training, our bottom line naturally comes with it," says Pace. It's been a really great transition for us."

This philosophy also extends into the community as well, sharing what Pace claims is a company which philosophy for all everyone at REMAX Pace.

"It's a company philosophy and its to take care one's clients. If you take care of them. they will take care of you," says Pace. "If you look at it on a larger scale, if you give back to the community and give them some of your income, they will give back to you, it's a natural ebb and flow of things, we have always appreciated the way the communities have helped us over the years."

Pace and REMAX diligently find opportunities to give back to the community with Pace claiming that it's not selfless, but something that they simply want to do by contributing to organizations, giving homes to people in need to donating Christmas gifts and clothing to young girls who have been through the legal system and experienced a hard life.

"I had a lady who raised four children in Glen Park along with 22 foster children over the years working as a waitress," says Pace. "After her daughter's husband passed away in a car crash in Florida, she wished to sell her home and move there with her before the snow fell."

They experienced difficulty in selling the home three separate times due to the buyer's poor credit. After having a lender look at one of the buyers, a Vietnam veteran and his wife attempting to pay off government loans, Pace told the woman that if the home did not sell by late November, he would buy the home himself.

"I bought the home, she moved to Florida, the couple really liked the home and I let them rent it for two years, enough time to pay off loans and eventually purchase the home on their own, says Pace. "I try every year to give back to the community through one major thing a year, I never know what it is until I run into it, but I try one big thing every year."

For Pace, giving back to the community through both his job and his personal time is something that holds an incredible amount of meaning to Pace, whose past experiences have helped shaped him into the person he is today.

"I do this because I've been there," says Pace. "My father passed away when I was younger and my mother had to support three children on her own during a time where it was extremely difficult for a young woman to get a job. We had to use food stamps, we never had a Christmas or gifts. I now use every opportunity I have to give back."

For Pace, he will always be giving back to the community, helping those achieve their dreams whether in real estate or in the community. It's through his creative drive to help others, that ensures his dedication for many years to come.

"I enjoy creating things, looking at a situation "as it is" and thinking of ways for "how it can be"," says Pace. "I get my creativity because we didn't have much growing up, we had to be creative to survive."