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How we got started
Surviving real estate (and other) crashes
Now married, the Liniger have kept Re/Max aloft through real estate booms and busts.
"In October 1983 we did a convention in Canada. After the meeting one of our broker-owners arranged a seaplane ride for several of us, and we crashed," Gail says. "The pilot was killed, and everyone else was hurt."
The accident left Gail paralyzed on her left side and without peripheral vision.
"I spent six months with Gail in the hospital, and the management team ran the company," Dave says. "That's when we got romantically involved -- 10 years after we started the business."
Re/Max is now 26 years old and weathering its fifth recession.
"It's the hardest yet," Dave says. "We feel we're coming out of the housing recession, but recovery will be slow."
Read more of Re/Max's startup story.
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LAST UPDATE: Sep 09 2009 | 12:52 PM ET
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