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Flanders said his father had always predicted that one of his sons would get involved in real estate, which led Flanders to first get his real estate license and to join Cliff's Insurance and Realty. At the time, he intended to work there for two years until he could get his broker's license; he ended up staying another 23 years.

The decision to go out on his own came about due to a couple recent twists of fate last fall. Flanders purchased the former Anderson Furniture building on Washburne Avenue, which he had always liked and rented part of it to Curves for Women.

They pulled up the carpet and redid the wood floor, and an interior architect, who is a friend of Flanders, designed an interior layout. "The plan and the floor came together and I walked in and it just grabbed me," explained Flanders of his decision to start his own real estate agency. "I decided if I'm going to do it I should do it."

Joining Flanders at Patrick Flanders Realty, Inc. is Brenda Schmitz, who will serve as office manager, handling the bookkeeping and vendors in addition to assisting Flanders, who prefers to concentrate his time on real estate sales and is grateful that Schmitz does a great job in keeping the office organized.

"I think to do the job properly you have to work full time at real estate," he said. "I need to focus on the job."

Schmitz will be in the office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from Mondays to Thursdays. Flanders will also work Fridays, evenings, and weekends. "If my light's on, it's office hours," he said. "People are very welcome to stop in nights and weekends." After-hour appointments are also available.