For Richard L. Smith, there are two key elements when it comes to having a successful real estate business.

“If you do people right, you will be fine,” he said. “If you do people wrong, they will remember that, too.

“We take care of people and treat them the way they want to be treated.”

And, he adds, there no hidden fees at Smith Real Estate Services. There are no unpleasant surprises.

Smith is the broker and owner at Smith Real Estate Services at 535 E. Walnut St. in Watseka. The service relocated there two years ago, and the site has been renovated. New flooring, new plumbing, new furnace, new air handling equipment and new lighting.

“We basically took it down to the studs,” he said.

Then it was brought back in an immaculate condition. It is a sharp looking modern office.

Smith heads a staff of five, three full time, and two part time.

He got his real estate license in 1987. He studied Monday nights at Kankakee Community College. At the time, he was also driving a truck, a profession he retired from in 2004. Working at two professions, he says, was beneficial. Driving took him all over the area and connected him with leads of people who wanted to buy and sell homes.

“Customers both ways got to know me,” he said. “They would kid me. Have you sold anything today?”

Folks would come to him when it was time to buy a home. Customers came to know him and to trust him, he says.

The tradition, he explained, is that the fee is split equally between the listing agent and the selling agent. Smith sticks to that when he can, particularly in the Iroquois County area.

“That’s like it should be,” he said.

In other locales, fees have changed, Smith said.

“I never turn down a client,” he said. “Even if they are just beginning, I’m going to help them get into a home.”

He recently sold a home, a ranch house, to a 22-year-old recent college graduate starting a career as a physical therapist. She was thrilled.

“My own place,” she told him.

Smith points out that there are grants for buyers under certain income levels. He works with those clients, too. The grants often require a recipient to live in the structure for a certain number of years.

“It is nice to sell the high dollar stuff,” he said.

But there is satisfaction of bringing a building back to life. He has a client who buys older properties, in the $10,000 range, and rehabilitates them.

Smith tells sellers to make their property presentable to help it sell. But, he adds, do not go overboard on rehabilitation.

“Don’t get fancy,” he said.

But do clean things up and get rid of junk.

He encourages people to take a look at the small things. Is there a door that doesn’t hang right? A handyman could be the answer. Yet he also says you don’t have to paint or put on a new roof.

He tells buyers to pay attention to the neighborhood. Don’t just drive to the house. Take a look at the five or six blocks around it.

“You are going to be spending the next 10-20 years there,” he said.

“Don’t pay too much for frills,” he said in advice for potential buyers. “Don’t overspend what you can afford.”

Make sure you calculate the taxes and the insurance in your annual budget, he adds.

The most satisfying part of the job, he said, comes when he sees clients a couple of weeks or a month after the sale and they tell him that they are satisfied with the outcome.

“It has nothing to do with the money,” he said of his own work. “The best advertising you can have is to have a satisfied client.”

Much of his business is a result of positive referrals and word of mouth.

Smith is Watseka born and raised. He was born at Iroquois Memorial Hospital. He’s been married for 54 years to his high school sweetheart, Donna Kay. They married right after her high school graduation. They had met at the Dairy Queen in Sheldon.

They are the parents of two sons, Richard E. Smith Jr. and Timothy Lee Smith. They have seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Smith, a Vietnam veteran, is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

For relaxation, he’s a car guy. His antique cars include a 1962 Ford Fairlane and a 2011 Shelby GT 500 with 1,900 miles on it. He also has a 1984 Ford pickup and a 1969 Torino Cobra that he bought when he got married. The Indian fire red beauty has 34,000 miles.

He expects to keep working.

“Retirement is not in my vocabulary,” he said.