SAUGANASH — Phil Barone has heard it a million times.
How could you work with your father? And your wife? And now your daughter?
But he — and his family — wouldn't have it any other way, each having learned the business at the feet of the generation that came before.
"I get asked how I can work with my family all the time," Phil Barone said Tuesday, surrounded by his family on in his Sauganash yard. "And I always tell them, I love it."
But the family has one rule: No shop talk at home, after hours or at family gatherings, said Matt Barone, who started the four-generation Barone Group, which is now part of At Properties, in 1966.
"What happens at work stays at work," Matt Barone said. "That's the only way it works."
Elizabeth Barone, 26, who joined the family business in May, never considered going out on her own.
"My family name has been a blessing," Elizabeth Barone said. "They are my backbone."
All of the Barones said they relish bouncing issues and ideas off of each other — but acknowledged their discussions can get heated.
"We compartmentalize," said Maureen Barone, who married Phil Barone after meeting him while the two worked at a title company. "I remember I started to talk shop at a family event, and Matt gave me quite the look. We have to turn it off."
But that's getting tougher in a real-estate world that demands brokers always be reachable — and always scouting for their next client, Maureen Barone said, who got her broker's license after the youngest of her three daughters started kindergarten.
Matt Barone, who retired in 2007 but is still active managing properties and referring clients to his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, brought his son into the real estate business after learning the ins and outs of investing from his father, also named Phil.
"He taught me ethics and integrity, and that's what this family and company are based on," Matt Barone said. "We're not just in it for the money. I just love the satisfaction of putting the right buyer and seller together."
That's the legacy that the family has passed down to Elizabeth, who recently got engaged.
"I would never work with anyone else," Elizabeth Barone said, laughing. "It would be incredibly awkward."
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