Feature Article
SECOND GENERATION REALTOR® KEEPS SUCCESS IN THE FAMILY
Written By: Bryan Douey
Published By: Calgary Real Estate News
Article Used with permission of the Calgary Real Estate Board. © Copyright Calgary Real Estate News, 2007
2006-08-03
; "Second generation REALTOR® keeps success in the family")
If ever there were to be a royal family of Calgary’s real estate industry, it would have to be the Cote clan. For three generations, the Cote name has been synonymous with the industry, with perhaps none more successful than Clair Cote Jr., who, as the second generation Cote in the business, found a way to leave his mark.
Cote never planned on following in his father’s footsteps, even though Clair Cote Sr., who entered the industry in Calgary in 1926, was the first ever president of the Calgary Real Estate Board, a position Cote would one day occupy in 1974.
“In 1954 I came back to Calgary to finish my degree at Mount Royal College,” Cote said. “I had planned to reapply for the next semester, but my dad said I should do some work for him in his office over the summer. In four months, I had my license, and I thought, ‘I’ll go and sell a few homes.’ Let’s just say I never went back to university.”
After working in his father’s company for six years, Clair Senior sold his company to Curly Hunt, giving Clair Junior the push he needed to start his own company, Clair J. Cote Real Estate and Investments. In fact, in a weird twist of fate, Clair Senior became licensed at his son’s new company, and until his sudden passing in December of 1962, actually worked with Clair Junior.
“It was a privilege to start in the business with him,” Cote said. “To work so many years with him was a real bonus for me.”
In 1964, Cote sat down with his friend Pat Toole for coffee, and had a discussion about forming a new company, P.J. Toole and Cote Real Estate Ltd. Pat’s brother, John, also joined as a third partner in 1962 to run their commercial division, forming a powerful partnership that would lead to tremendous success in the industry.
“It was the three of us for 26-27 years,” Cote said. “We had a great partnership. In the beginning our office was at 628 12th Ave., because back then being downtown was not a detriment to a residential real estate company.”
Indeed, there seemed to be no detriments to any aspects of his business, as Cote and his partners soon opened 18 branch offices across the province, including one in Drumheller, one in Medicine Hat, one in Olds and three in Edmonton.
“We had close to 500 people working for us in the province before 1981,” Cote said. “But in ‘81 the severe depression hit, and we got concerned that we were going to lose the company.”
“We were very fortunate, however. We had to sell off the offices in Olds and Red Deer, and we closed our offices in Edmonton. We also shrunk to eight offices in Calgary. If one of us went to Edmonton to manage the offices there, they might have been saved. But none of us really wanted to move to Edmonton.”
After all, Calgary is where Cote was raising his family, which would eventually expand to include four children and 10 grandchildren. Family time was very important to Cote, and it has kept them close.
“We are a very close family,” he said. “Even the grandkids come out to visit us a lot on their own. I had a lot of fun with our kids.”
Cote and his wife Kay were married in 1956, and on Sept. 1 will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
“The whole family is going back to California,” said Cote, who owned a condo there until 1992. “Most of the grandchildren will be coming, all for our 50th anniversary.”
Cote has been an active member of his community, wherever he has been, coaching hockey and girls baseball in Scarboro, and 40 years of volunteering with the Rotary Club, both in downtown Calgary and in Canmore, where he currently resides.
Cote has great memories of his coaching days, and said he had a lot of fun with it, with one memory sticking out in particular.
“I remember when one of the girls came to me one day,” Cote said. “She said that one of the girls, Susan, who was a little eight year old, didn’t get to play very much, and asked if she could play. So I told Susan, ‘Next inning, I want you to go out and play in the field.’ But when she got out there she was doing cartwheels, and had her back to the play the entire time. I told her, ‘you have to pay attention to the game,’ and she told me, ‘But Mr. Cote, you said to go and play in the field.’ I guess I should have been more specific.”
The third generation Cote, Clair’s son Robert, became licensed in 1989 at his father’s company. Father and son would never work together in the same branch, however, and with the sale of P.J. Toole and Cote Real Estate in 1992, Robert moved on, and is now currently with RE/MAX Classic Real Estate.
“Robert surprised me,” Cote said. “He was doing a lot of different jobs, and went back to Mount Royal College for a business degree. When he was finished he came up to me and said, ‘Dad, I want to go into real estate.’ ”
With success in the third generation, and 10 grandchildren in the family, the fourth generation might not be far off.
This article was written for Calgary Real Estate News, a division of the Calgary Real Estate Board, for the series “Legends of Real Estate” showcasing important members of the Calgary Real Estate Board. Please visit the Calgary Real Estate Board online.This article is part of the collection of the Calgary Real Estate News. Please visit them online.