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The rock star of real estate

His message may be similar to other moguls', but he has a tour bus - and that hair. And a $125-million house to sell.

By TOM ZUCCO
Published January 21, 2006

TAMPA - Here's something we all need - another expert to tell us we can make a bundle in the real estate market. With little or no money down. In the comfort of our own home or apartment.

(Cut to footage of smiling couple counting $20 bills.)

As an added bonus, this expert looks like Fabio, has his own action figure, is building a $125-million mansion on speculation just south of Palm Beach, and at the moment is kicking back on an imitation animal skin in a tricked-out, 45-foot tour bus idling in a Tampa TV station parking lot.

This is the world of Frank McKinney, a.k.a. the Real Estate Rock Czar.

McKinney was in town Thursday as he set out on a two-month tour to promote his latest book, Frank McKinney's Maverick Approach to Real Estate Success.

The messages in the book - don't be afraid to take risks, work hard, etc. - may not be dramatically different from hundreds of other how-to manuals.

But McKinney, 42, has found a way to separate himself from the pack.

If he indeed sells the waterfront home near Palm Beach for what he's asking, it would be a state record. The highest price paid is the $75-million Nelson Peltz, the chairman of the company that controls the Arby's fast-food chain, shelled out for a 13-acre waterfront mansion in Palm Beach. (Peltz is reportedly trying to sell the property because he doesn't use it often.)

McKinney, who owns the property but won't break ground on the megamansion until March, may have his work cut out for him.

Nationwide, the median sale price for existing homes increased by about 13 percent in 2005, but flattened during the second half of the year as the pace of sales slowed, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Yes, the market is cooling down.

And there is competition down the street. From Donald Trump.

Two years ago, Trump paid just less than $42-million for the 7-acre Maison de L'Amitie in Palm Beach. The Donald gutted the house and is building a 44,000-square-foot spec home. The property has 475 feet of oceanfront, is scheduled to be completed in late March and will cost about $125-million .

Real estate experts in the area say it will be tough, but not impossible, for McKinney to find buyers. The rules are different at the upper reaches of the real estate market, in part because the ultrawealthy tend to be insulated from fluctuations in the economy.

McKinney said he's had inquiries, and somewhere out there is a person willing to buy his not-so-humble home.

"Today, there is no market for it," McKinney said. "But when I'm done in 21/2 to three years, there will be. I believe in the evolution of the market.

"There are about 50,000 people in the world who can afford something like that. I just need to find one of those people."

And so the marketing begins.

He says he's not a motivational speaker or some get-rich guru, not another Anthony Robbins or Carlton Sheets.

He's grounded in his faith (Catholic) and his family (wife Nilsa and 7-year-old daughter Laura), and he says some of the best advice he's received has come from Trump and boxing promoter Don King.

What they have, McKinney said, is a brand. And therein lies the connection between all three.

It must be the hair.

Like many other real estate promoters, McKinney has the "rose from nothing" story.

Son of an Indianapolis banker. Below average grades in high school. Comes to Florida in emerging real estate boom. Jumps in.

In 1986, using money he borrowed from family and friends, McKinney bought his first house for $30,000, fixed it up, and sold it for $50,000. Seven years later, he bought an oceanfront property for $775,000 and sold it for $2.2-million.

Among his latest efforts are a $20-million estate he sold in 62 days and a $50-million estate he sold in 50 days.

McKinney attributes his success in part to a strict regimen. He's in bed by 9 p.m. and up by 4:30 a.m. He doesn't smoke or drink. He drives a black 1976 Trans Am, is a registered Independent and his wife is his interior decorator.

"I'm a nerd," he says, "in sheep's clothing."

All sheep should dress so well.

He also knows the phrases of an industry anchored in self-promotion and self-confidence, and uses them often:

"Fear is a great teacher."

"I'm in the fear removal business."

"I don't believe in "giving back.' That implies I took something."

Proceeds from book sales will go to his charity, the Caring House Project Foundation. The nonprofit builds - what else? - homes, mostly for the disadvantaged in Haiti, Nicaragua and South Florida.

Even proceeds from the Frank McKinney action figures, which sell for $250, will benefit the cause, he said.

In typical McKinney fashion, he kicked off promotion of his book by jumping his motorcycle over a replica of the first house he bought, a distance of about 35 feet.

But it's not all rock 'n' roll.

Tapping into his inner child, McKinney decided to build his office in a tree overlooking the Atlantic in Delray Beach. Branching out, as it were.

That didn't sit well with the Delray Beach Historic Preservation Board. They ordered McKinney to move the $25,000 structure because it blocks the front of his home, a historic, Depression-era, Cape Cod cottage.

One other detail that didn't sit well with authorities: the treehouse, with indoor plumbing and electricity, was built without permits.

After three years, the king of megamansions is still fighting to keep his treehouse.

Back in his tour bus, McKinney reached for a book next to his bed. It was a work on philosophy, one of his favorite subjects.

Of course, it triggered one last McKinneyism : "There's a fine line between eccentricity and lunacy," he said. "The eccentric has a little more money."

[Last modified January 21, 2006, 01:33:17]