As the housing market begins to post signs of recovery, one precocious teen isn't letting anyone stand in the way of her shot at turning a profit.
In March, Willow Tufano, then 14 years old, grabbed headlines after purchasing her first home for $12,000. Tufano isn't rich, she's just taking advantage of the weak market in Fort Myers, Fla. And now she's at it again.
The teen recently added another property to her investment portfolio -- a $17,500 two bedroom, one bath house, NPR reported.
Tufano is living amidst one of the nation's weakest housing markets. In September, Florida had the highest foreclosure rate in the country, the Sun Sentinel reported . One in 318 homes in the state received a foreclosure filing last month, according to the foreclosure database RealtyTrac.
The upside-down housing market has made many Americans reluctant to buy, Bloomberg News reported. In turn, rental rates in the U.S. are at their highest since 2002. In 98 percent of housing markets, buying is actually cheaper than renting.
Despite Tufano’s impressive ability to start building an investment portfolio at a young age, being a landlord has not been all that easy. NPR reported that the people renting her home neglected to pay her rent and vacated the home in the middle of night.
As for the young entrepreneur's next move, she told NPR she would like to turn her recent fame into a reality television show.
Check out this slideshow for before and after pictures of Turfano’s first property:
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