Redefining Florida’s Real Estate Landscape: The JW Lighthomes Revolution
JW Lighthomes is setting a benchmark in Florida’s real estate with innovative waterfront and inland development projects. Brothers Jackson and Carson Wiener are successfully transforming communities like Marco Island and Jupiter with their honest and reputable approach to land development.
People retire to Florida for various reasons, including the mild, sunny climate and retirement-friendly economic conditions. This means a booming real estate market. That’s where the Wiener brothers are changing real estate and development work in the Sunshine State.
Jackson Wiener started working in real estate when he was 15 years old. He began as an intern in waterfront luxury development on the East Coast. Carson Wiener worked in sales. Two years ago, they founded JW Lighthomes, a residential development and land entitlement company.
“Primarily, we want to be in a lesser-developed town on the coast, 20 to 30 minutes outside of a major city. Many of the vacant lots in Florida in major cities have been developed, but as more and more people are moving to Florida, there is still a need for housing” Jackson says.
Owners of these lots often turn out to be older people who invested in waterfront property in their youth with the idea of moving there in the future. Suddenly, their plans change, and they are stuck paying property taxes and maintenance because they have no use for the property.
“Some people bought these lots because they thought they wanted to retire in Florida,” Carson Wiener says. “They eventually changed their minds and didn’t want to move there anymore. So they sell it to us.”
Jackson Wiener points out that many real estate agents won’t consider handling such small properties.
“It’s not worth it for a top agent to draw up paperwork and do showings and everything for one undeveloped lot,” Jackson says. “Due to making the same 3% commission, an agent will spend their focus on million dollar homes rather than lots that are much cheaper being they could make the same commission on one house as 100 lots”.
JW Lighthomes works from a unique plan that benefits everyone in these transactions. Jackson and Carson speed up the process by removing the middleman.
“We point out to the seller that they can save time and money by selling the lot to us. Many times, we can close in as quickly as 72 hours,” Jackson explains. “Rather than working with an agent, where they would pay six percent commission, plus two percent closing costs, then have to wait for it to sell before they get their money.”
The Wiener brothers soon began developing some lots themselves. JW Lighthomes is currently working on two substantial development projects in South Florida.
How they succeeded is no secret. Jackson and Carson Wiener treat people right. It starts when the JW Lighthomes team finds vacant lots in areas ripe for a home but are too small for most developers.
Working small helps the brothers close deals and make money. Their website compares the costs in time and money for selling property through an agent versus directly to them through their business. For example, a property on the market through an agent takes an average of around 150 days to sell, and then closing takes another 30 to 60 days. With JW Lighthomes, where the seller can sign a contract the same day, the seller usually gets their money within seven to 10 days.
Transparency has benefitted the Wiener brothers. However, not everyone working in real estate or development operates this way.
“Some investors just want to get the seller on the contract and lock them up for 90 or 180 days while the investor tries to flip the property. If they can’t flip it, they just back out of the contract,” Jackson says.
Jackson and Carson Wiener find that making smaller, more personal deals makes for better business practices.
“We would rather do 30 small deals a month ethically than do one big deal that might distress the landowners we’re dealing with,” Jackson says. “In the past two years, we’ve done over 500 deals. Of the sellers we’ve worked with, I can’t think of one that would say a negative thing about working with us”.
In addition to their developments, JW Lighthomes works in the acquisition of properties for builders, investors, and developers. The team utilizes its extensive industry experience and knowledge to ensure the satisfaction of all clients. On properties they don’t build on themselves, many times they will clear the trees, pave streets, remove wildlife, or do what needs to be done to make the property ready to build before getting it off to a network of builders who would be willing to take the project on with the goal to make 10%.