Realtor Pockets Millions by Flipping Foreclosed Houses
When one is stuffing one’s pocket with dollars from flipping properties it is wise to keep quiet. Jeffrey J. Leonard of Punta Gorda is a realtor who is making tons of money by flipping foreclosure houses. Since February 2008, his three firms have spent about $10 million in purchasing 161 residential houses and plots at North Point in Charlotte County. Meanwhile he has resold 79 of the units he has purchased and pocketed a profit of about $4.3 million.
When asked about the reason behind his success, Leonard gently refused to say anything to the reporter from Herald Tribune by saying that he did not want to discuss the issue – friends included.
But through various court records his success story can be deciphered. He purchases units mostly from foreclosure auctions as well as from tax lien sales. After he purchases the units he renovates them and sells them as quickly as he can, earning a profit of about 44% of the total sales.
Last December he purchased a house in 1,200 square foot lot in North Port for $48,000 and then three months afterwards sold it for $94,400. Alice Burnell of Exit Platinum Realty, which is based in Port Charlotte, said that the house was fixed perfectly and the buyers, her clients, had nothing extra to do.
The sheer volume of his sales has made Leonard one of the biggest investors in the real estate market in southwest Florida today. The time he has spent doing this has also made him one of the most experienced in the real estate business.
Leonard made his first real estate investment in 1981 in Charlotte County. Three years afterwards he recorded his first profit when he got a buyer to buy an empty Punta Gorda Isles plot on the very day he had bought it for $9,000 less. During the next two decades he traded in hundreds of units while building up a large brokerage firm.
In 2001 April Arvida Realty Services purchased Leonard’s large brokerage firm. In 1983, Leonard had founded Investors Realty International Associates. After 18 years the firm had in its employment 40 sales associates handling the sales of residential and commercial units. After 18 years, Leonard’s firm had annual sales that went up to $60 million and had 300 units in their control. Then Leonard said, “We have spent 18 years specializing in real estate in the Charlotte and De Soto counties and have witnessed our own company’s expansion right along with the tremendous growth the area has experienced. However, we felt that it was time to affiliate with another reputable company that could help us broaden our opportunities to better serve our clients and enhance our associates’ marketing abilities.”
