Real estate bust hits home for area builders, buyers [South Florida]
Leonard Sondheimer knows firsthand the perils of the real estate boom.
The 68-year-old — retired until he and his wife sought to diversify their investments into the Southwest Florida real estate rush — now finds himself working full time again as a mattress salesman in Bradenton.
The Sondheimers, who bought a house from Jade Homes that now stands unfinished with 75 others, also enticed more than a dozen neighbors and friends to buy investment homes from Jade.