making waves

Trumping The Donald?

>>Move over, Donald Trump;

you've got some competition.

At the ripe old age of 25, Brad Cozza is already closing multi-

million-dollar real estate deals on

a regular basis-and has even

bigger ambitions.

The Rhode Island native graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2003 with a business management degree, and then headed to New York City to pursue modeling and

acting work.

"While I got to go to the most amazing parties, I was living paycheck-to-paycheck for about eight months," Cozza says. "I finally asked myself, 'Why am I doing this?'"

Back to Southwest Florida he came, and started working as an agent for Keller Williams.

"I lived in the mecca of real estate, where we were seeing in excess of 15 to 20 percent appreciation, so I began investing in 90 percent construction loans for spec homes," he says. "Basically, it was $1,000 out-of-pocket. The banks wrapped in all closing costs and construction interest, so I walked into an instantaneous 10 percent equity."

Believing he had found a niche, Cozza earned his real estate license and started advertising in the New York Post. The response was so strong that he also placed ads in the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal.

"My volume went from 10 to 20 to 30, then 80 to 90 investment deals a month," he says. "It got to be too much for me, so I left Keller Williams and started Cozza Investment Group in February 2006." He now has 15 employees (six of them are also under 30) in Fort Myers and Miami with a third office set to open in New York City.

He sees his age as an asset. "My clients want experience," he says. "They see that I've invested in every program we offer and that I've done quite well. That alone overcomes my age."

As for The Donald? "I've definitely surpassed The Apprentice," says Cozza, who also travels nationwide to speak at The Donald Trump Expos. "With everything I've already accomplished, I'm only 5 percent to where I want to be. High-rises and Trump-style deals are definitely in my future."

-Lauren S. Bernaldo