Professional Profile: Richard Mandell - 1974

Name: Richard Mandell - 1974

Company: R&R Associates

Location: Newton, MA

The ten year old R&R Assoc. in Newton, MA headed by Richard Mandell, is responsible for over 450 million in home sales and the properties are located 1,500 miles from the office. The firm has just ended its best year, with estimated sales reaching just under $9 million. R&R has become number one in the world among the 120 offices of Florida’s Deltona Corp. The 43 year old Mandell and Robert Goodman first met on a football field in Brookline about 20 years ago. Together they masterminded a unique marketing concept called the Florida Counseling Service. They’ve counseled over 10,000 people who have come to them for advice on investment or to by a condominium, home or land for retirement in Florida. Almost half of those have bought property. Today, R&R represents the Deltona Corp. and its eight Florida communities exclusively in eastern Mass. So successful have been R&R operations under Mandell’s aegis, that they took on other properties; notably the Halcyon condominium on Cape Cod. Currently plans are underway to begin commercial-industrial operations from a spanking new headquarters building now under construction at Newton 128 Office Park. Needless to say the management of a real estate counseling service catering to the consumer takes an inordinate amount of management skill. He attributes his success to “good fortune: in selecting the right people. Marketing operations are handled by Robert Leeber, executive vice president, who is responsible for a 50 man-woman consulting team, team, operating out of New Hampshire, Cape Cod and Newton Corner. Mandell doesn’t take a back seat t anyone in promoting his company. The investment to data exceeds $3 million for advertising and public relations programs to bring his counseling service to public attention. He also refuses to just float along when it comes to unique promotional ideas. In season you’ll probably find him working on his yacht, where he takes prospective customers and prospects to extol the virtues of Marco Island, one of the prime properties he handles. And what better place to talk about life in the Sunshine State than from the bridge of the Ya Ya IV out of Marco Island. Mandell, himself a seasoned skipper with a captain’s license, is as comfortable navigating around the Thousand Island of Florida’s west coast as the average Cape Cod skipper feels in Vineyard Sound. In looking at the energy crisis, Mandell comments by saying: “We recognize the energy problem will affect every family in the country, in one way or another and Florida is no exception. But we’re optimistic because the retirement market must grow and will need Florid housing more than ever. The energy problem is of much less concern to those who need little or no heating fuel. Our problem will be to fill the demand for condominiums and homes in modest price ranges. We think both we and the Deltona Corp. are equal to the task.” Born in Boston and holding degrees from New York and Clark Universities. Dick and his wife have three children, a 16 year old daughter and two sons, 14 and 10. He is on the board of directors of the Executive Club of Greater Boston.