FORT MYERS, FL (July 14, 2009) Tom Bruzzesi, who owns The Foreclosure Shoppe, a foreclosure investment business in Southwest Florida, is known in Lee County as the “Crazy Foreclosure Guy.” He buys foreclosed properties at auction and flips them for enviable profits. His most recent score was a home he won at auction for only $1,000.

“That’s unheard of,” Bruzzesi says. “Most people spend more than that on their monthly mortgage payments.”

He bought the 1,300 square foot Lehigh Acres home on Feb. 25, performed no repairs, and hired Broker Salesman Charlie Bonacolta of Realty World, who sold it for $18,000 on March 13.

After commission, Bruzzesi netted approximately $14,000 on the deal. That’s a 1,400 percent return in only 16 days. Zillow.com reports the value of the home to be $88,500.

Aside from this $1,000 home, the least expensive price Bruzzesi ever paid for a home was $5,700 in 2007.

What’s his secret? “I am the prepared investor. I’ve been doing this for over 6 years, every day, and have purchased over 600 properties. I do my research,” he said. “The opportunities are out there. You just have to know how to find them and be prepared for them as they arise.” Bruzzesi and his staff research 40 – 50 properties a day.

Before making a purchase, Bruzzesi does a tremendous amount of research for each individual property. “That is the secret of being a prepared investor.”

“The historical meltdown in the financial markets and the resulting huge growth in foreclosures in this country is the talk of the nation,” he said. “The time for foreclosure investment is ripe, and the deals are definitely out there.”

However, Bruzzesi is not looking to keep this knowledge all to himself. He plans to announce foreclosure seminars in the near future to help educate other potential investors about how to get ahead in the foreclosure business. “I’d like to share my expertise to help other people get in on the game. Who wants to be a prepared investor?”