A 27-year-old investor says he has contracts to buy 28 of about 40 homes now on the market in Wellington's Versailles community, sales he said will stabilize prices in the once fraud-plagued neighborhood.
Christopher Anzalone is making the purchases as president of the Fort Lauderdale-based Liberty International Real Estate. He said the contracts total about $18 million.
Currently a renter in the pocket of 415 luxury homes near Lake Worth Road and U.S. 441, Anzalone said he learned real estate through a family business.
Anzalone sees opportunity in Versailles, where scam loans bought million-dollar mini mansions that now sell for half that -- or less.
He said the majority of his contracts are for one- third of what the homes last sold for.
The biggest deal: an $800,000 purchase price on a home where the bank was owed $5.7 million.
The Regional Multiple Listing Service had 41 active sale listings in Versailles as of Thursday.
"It's a beautiful community," Anzalone said. "The residents who live there have done a good job of getting rid of the fraudulent purchasers, and they are keeping it up meticulously."
Anzalone said he also has back-up contracts on nine additional properties, so if the original buyer falls through, he can scoop them up.
He said his original plan was to purchase all 46 homes for sale, but that some sellers were asking too much and other homes were already under contract.
Federal prosecutors have named 11 houses in the Versailles development that they believe were involved in some form of mortgage fraud.
0 comments:
Post a Comment