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CrossCountry Mortgage CEO nails profit on $30M Fort Lauderdale pad

Credit: Zillow and LinkedIn

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Ronald Leonhardt Jr., CEO of CrossCountry Mortgage, has sold a waterfront property in Fort Lauderdale for $30 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The mortgage executive purchased the home for $23 million in 2021, according to Zillow, bringing him a robust $7 million profit with the sale. Just a few months after buying the home, Leonhardt listed it for $31 million, and subsequently removed it from the market. Most recently, he listed the home in August for $33 million.

The buyer of the property has not yet been identified.

The modern home, designed by Randall Stofft and built by Sarkela Corp. in 2021, is in Fort Lauderdale’s gated Harbor Beach community. It includes 120 feet of water frontage, a lap pool, a full summer kitchen and docking capabilities for a megayacht, according to the listing description.

Chad Carroll of Compass represented the listing. Brady Thrasher of RE/MAX represented the buyer.

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The home spans about 9,500 square feet and includes six bedrooms, seven full baths and two half baths. In addition to the summer kitchen outside, the home also includes indoor “show” and “prep” kitchens.

A game room features a full bar, and a glass wine cellar that divides the living and dining areas can hold about 600 bottles. The primary bedroom, which includes two master baths, also features sliding glass doors that open out to a patio.

Leonhardt founded the Ohio-based CrossCountry Mortgage in 2003, according to the company’s website. He also has a property in Ohio and owns a number of restaurants and brew pubs in the state.

Luxury single-family sales in Fort Lauderdale were down 25 percent on an annual basis during the second quarter of 2023, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. The median luxury single-family sales price was also down 14.8 percent year over year to $3.985 million.

Sales of luxury single-family waterfront homes in Fort Lauderdale were down 37.6 percent year over year. The median sales price on these properties was down 15.9 percent year over year to $1.85 million.

Carroll told The WSJ that demand for ultra-luxury properties in the area remains high, but inventory for high-caliber properties remains low.

“If we had similar products available, I’m confident I could sell it over and over again,” he said. “The demand is there, the buyers are there. This caliber product just doesn’t exist these days.”

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Email Lillian Dickerson