Meet DI Real Estate's new VP of sales

In many ways, Jeff Leonard sees himself as a coach. Sitting inside his warmly lit office, decorated with the floor plans for soon-to-be condos and maps of Charleston, he reflects on his new position as vice president of sales and broker-in-charge at Daniel Island Real Estate.

“I love the art of people: building passion, keeping passion going,” he said. “One of the best professions on earth is what I get the opportunity to do, and make people’s dreams come true. It’s real estate growth, it’s real estate development, but fulfilling that with the right product, the right people, the right niche.”

While his byzantine title may sound intimidating, Leonard sums up his responsibilities with DI Real Estate as managing and overseeing day-to-day operations of sales and laying the foundation for his company’s future.

Leonard’s long career in real estate began in college, when he picked up his real estate license. He received his license while attending Pembroke State University in North Carolina, obtaining a bachelor’s in business management along the way.

“I managed to get a great degree that I paid for and a wife, all at the same location,” he laughs. “I got a real good deal.”

After college, the future vice president fell into his business “by desire to meet people and work with people,” he said. But, during an economic downturn in the late 1980s, Leonard purchased a Century 21 franchise.

“Hugo hit me about 30 days after I opened, and then a couple things [were] going on,” he recalled. “In ’91, the Gulf War and things of that nature, so it was a challenging time there in the economy, but I kept (the franchise) for about four years.”

Afterwards, he jumped back into a more hands-on role in real estate sales in Myrtle Beach, before working for Daniel Island Real Estate Company from 2001 to 2002. For the next 16 years, Leonard was the executive director of sales at Bald Head Island Limited, LLC in North Carolina.

Leonard said that he is excited to finally be back on Daniel Island.

“Long before I knew I was going to be back here with an opportunity to work, my wife and I discussed wrapping up and retirement one day would be here in Charleston,” he continued. “We started out here with a honeymoon 34 years ago and here I am right back here again.”

Throughout his career, Leonard said that his favorite spots to work are areas with a “sense of place.”

“You can buy a home anywhere that you want and I like to work in those places where the home has a sense of surrounding, a sense of community around it, a sense of comradery with it,” he elaborated.

Although he’s been away from Daniel Island for years, Leonard assured that the friendships he’s maintained with island residents have kept him in the loop on the area’s evolution.

“I’ve been able to keep an eye on things and watch this place really mature and grow and become exactly what the vision was in the beginning,” he stated.

With the last of Daniel Island being developed and sold, the real estate market is headed for a shift. Leonard hopes to push the future of the company off island by selling property in the downtown Charleston area and Mt. Pleasant. Daniel Island Real Estate will still retain its “luxury brand,” but will attempt to grow it outside of the community, said Leonard.

The year 2018 was an occasionally turbulent time for the region, Leonard claimed, offering bipartisan political unrest and inclement weather as two examples. But, he said that 2019 has already proven to be a better year, economically, for his company.

“What I’m seeing right now from the first quarter is a lot of strength coming back in,” stated Leonard. “There’s a lot of vitality it seems in our inquiries that we’re seeing and our contracts that we’re writing. We’re very busy and I’m looking at the market right now as being relatively healthier than it has been in the last 12 months, certainly.”

Leonard believes that the Holy City’s real estate market will have a bright future, despite some economists’ predictions of some dark clouds ahead.

“I don’t think that they’re wrong in saying there will be a downturn,” he explained. “There’s always a downturn in a cyclical situation, but I think Charleston overall has got a little bit more uniqueness and insolation from the greater influences of outer market indicators. Interest rates are coming back down right now. Charleston is in a healthy place.”

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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