Today, Paul L. Hulme is the chairman of the board and CEO of Alain Pinel Realtors, the largest independent real estate company in Northern California. Alain Pinel Realtors is also the second largest family-owned business in the Silicon Valley.

Alain Pinel has been so successful that rival real estate companies have tried to buy the company.

"We were pursued quite aggressively to be purchased," said Hulme.

But he didn't want to sell out. "We were doing well," said Hulme.

Hulme should know. He has had business on his mind since he was 8 years old. His first business was to deliver newspapers in the morning and evening. "I had two paper routes that I kept for eight years," recalled Hulme.

Hulme then moved on to door-to-door sales. While still a teenager, he started a chain-link fence company in Utah. "I would fence government property, neighborhoods and canals. This was when I was going to school," he said. "My dad was anxious to join me in business. He was in farmers' home administration. I was doing so well, he wanted to leave his government job to come join me."

His chain-link fence business did so well that he bought a Pontiac hard-top convertible before he was 18, as well as several other cars. Hulme's brothers worked for him in the chain-link fence company.

Hulme also dabbled in the insurance business before starting a maintenance company in the early 1960s after following his brothers to the Bay Area.

"It was an up-and-coming place," said Hulme of the Bay Area. "Opportunities were great and people were successful."

"I didn't notice the San Francisco of the '60s—I was busy," he said. "I owned an airplane and flew back and forth between Utah and San Jose Municipal airport. It was a four-seater."

Hulme's company had the Mervyn's account in 1968 when the department store chain had only three outlets.

"He has grace and dignity. I have never known a man of more impeccable integrity," says Mervyn Morris, the founder of Mervyn's department store, who has known Hulme for close to 50 years now.

A longtime associate, Walter Muir, says that the best thing about Paul Hulme is that he is not hyper nor is he aggressive.

Hulme says that he got into the real estate business because nothing appreciates better or has better value than real estate. "Much before I got into real estate, I was investing money in trust deeds," said Hulme.

Alain Pinel Realtors is now the top real estate company in the nation for average price per sale and average price per agent. "We have grown through organic growth and not through acquisitions," said Hulme.

Alain Pinel co-founded the company with Paul Hulme and Helen Pastorino. Pinel and Pastorino are not partners in the company anymore, but Hulme has held onto the unique company name.

"We tried 10 or 11 names and they were all used. So we went with Alain Pinel Realtors. It's an intriguing name and a good conversation piece. It has that French sound," said Hulme.

Alain Pinel Realtors did not make a profit for the first six years. "I had invested my assets from the maintenance business. I did not borrow," said Hulme. He now employs 1,200 workers in 20 offices.

Hulme says his company was one of the first to have a website. "We had our website on our business card in 1992. People thought it was a misprint," he says.

Hulme lives with his wife, Helga, in a 5,000-square-foot house on Montalvo Heights Court in Saratoga. His children and grandchildren drop by every Sunday.

Hulme's parents lived on a farm in Panguitch, Utah. There was no water, heating or electricity. Looking out into his backyard that includes a waterfall, a pool and a pond for koi fish, Hulme said, "I didn't want to live that way. I wanted to do something."

Hulme belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and is a member of the Saratoga Ministers Association.

"I spend my free time with my family. I try to swim a mile three or four times a week," he said. "When I don't swim, I walk to the office."

Despite his many successes in business and acquired wealth, Hulme considers himself a "family man" first.

"I consider my family as my greatest asset," he said.