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LARGO
Florida, and the country for that matter, is full of real estate investors who could have learned a lesson from Wendell F. Schott.
He has plowed much of his life's earnings into real estate. His holdings aren't massive and his pockets don't bulge with cash. Yet he lives a life of modest leisure.
That's thanks to prudence. Unlike thousands of other investors, Schott saw the real estate bubble for what it was — and kept away.
"I thought it was scary," he said of the surge in values during the middle aughts. "I could have bought something, and I probably would be kicking myself right now."
Schott, 56, has a distaste for credit, preferring to pay cash. He traces his frugal ways to an upbringing in Queens, where his father was a bricklayer and mother a homemaker.
Throughout much of his professional career he was a controller for a variety of businesses in New York, earning extra income by preparing tax returns.
Schott was drawn to the Sunshine State. Both his parents and grandparents retired to Dunedin. He bought his first property there in 1985 for $40,000.
In 2000, he moved permanently.
"I love Florida," said Schott, who is single and has no children. "I never really liked New York."
Over time, he purchased several Pinellas properties in and around Indian Rocks Beach. He owns a duplex and three condominiums. His most recent purchase was in 2002 when he bought a house in Seminole.
Two of his condos are used as residences; he rents the other properties.
The properties were probably worth $2.5 million three years ago, he said, and have a value of about $1.7 million today. That's no small sum, and he has money invested in various instruments like IRAs and annuities.
He owes no mortgage debt.
When the real estate bubble burst, and real estate investors and speculators saw their investments evaporate, Schott lived well. He spends much of his time caring for his elderly parents and attending concerts, as many as 50 a year.
Schott said his first indication that something was wrong with the real estate market was when values increased after the busy hurricane season of 2004. He thought for sure they would dip.
Then he noticed that rising tax and insurance costs were eating into his rental income, which had been stable.
This shook Schott, who said it became clear as real estate values skyrocketed and the craze to profit mounted that the market was unhinged.
"I'm an extremely practical person," he said. "And very methodical."
Schott said some who were devastated when the inevitable crash came were people innocently trying to better their lots. But he thinks most were just greedy.
"That was very unwise," Schott said.
Despite some indications of recovery, Schott said he's still steering clear of real estate and doesn't think the market has fully hit bottom. A sign of improvement, he said, will be when the average person feels better about the economy.
Said Schott: "I don't think that's going to happen until 2011."
Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or 727-445-4166.
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