Foreclosure Frenzy

Foreclosure Frenzy

Making money in the foreclosure market, says one Gulf

coast broker, takes a potent mix of aggression and know-how.

The real estate industry is littered with folks who say they knew the bubble was going to burst.

Matt Augustyniak, who runs a real estate firm with more than 10 offices on the Gulf Coast, is one of those folks. But what separates Augustyniak from the masses is that while the bubble expanded, he was actually planning for the burst. He began turning his company into a short sale and foreclosure-focused outfit back in 2005.

Now the company, Lakewood Ranch-based Horizon Realty, is one of the Gulf Coast's largest and most successful short sale companies. Over the past year, says Augustyniak, the company has closed about 75 short sales or real estate owned (REO) deals a month.

That volume has fueled a paradoxical growth spurt at Horizon. The company, with multiple offices in Charlotte, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties, is planning new ones for St. Petersburg, Brandon and Fort Myers. The 10-year-old company now has about 550 agents, making it one of the largest in terms of agents in the Greater Sarasota market.

"I can't let the market dictate my terms or what happens to my company," says Augustyniak, who played running back for the Purdue University football team in 1981 and 1982. "We continue to grow as a company and expand while others are scaling back or shutting down."

In addition to opening new realty offices and hiring new agents, Augustyniak is growing other parts of his real estate conglomerate, which includes a full-service insurance company, a title business and, most recently, a business that fixes up and renovates foreclosed homes. Augustyniak's wife, Lori Augustyniak, runs the insurance agency.

Meanwhile, Horizon's army of short sale and foreclosure specialists use what Augustyniak calls an aggressive and proactive strategy of working with banks and other entities looking to unload properties. Says Augustyniak: "I train my agents to put us in a workable situation [with] the banks."

That starts with pricing the property right for a quick deal, as a prolonged negotiation takes time away from other deals. After a price is set and a buyer is found, the Horizon agent coordinates all the paper work involved in a short sale, which is when the bank takes a loss on the mortgage in order to facilitate a sale.

The work on that end pays off when the agent and seller are ready to go to a lender. Coming into that process with a contract, Augustyniak says, is a key to short sales and foreclosure deals, because that puts the company in a position of strength.

Augustyniak says the company has closed short sales in less than 30 days, from contract to closing, while foreclosure sales have been completed in less than 10 days. Augustyniak also boasts about the company's diversified portfolio: In the same month late last year, the company sold a home in an upscale Sarasota neighborhood that initially listed for $3.4 million and another home that was in the $200,000 price range.

While Horizon had this market almost to itself and a few others as recently as 18 months ago, that is no longer the case. The real estate industry is now filled with agents and companies who claim to be short sale and foreclosure experts.

Augustyniak hopes to stay ahead of his competitors by continuing to be aggressive in marketing and reaching possible customers. That, and constantly preaching to his agents to stay positive despite the market challenges and difficulties.

That is an attitude Augustyniak honed from his parents, who ran a Century 21 realty firm, first in his native Fort Wayne, Ind., then in Sarasota in the 1980s. Augustyniak says that since his parents sold beachfront condos in the region during a time when interest rates were as high as 20%, this market is a cinch by comparison.

"I love this market right now," says Augustyniak. "It's a fun business."

-Mark Gordon