Tampa Real Estate Entrepreneur Found Success The Old-Fashioned Way: He Earned It

By John Patrick  

Business is in Matt Fonk’s blood.

Aged 12, the budding entrepreneur was already repairing broken lawn mowers and selling them on his family’s front lawn.

“I made $200 one summer, a fortune to me at the time,” Fonk says.

A successful Tampa businessman with his own property management company, Cavalier Estates, today Fonk strikes deals worth 100 times that amount but he credits lessons learned as a youngster with his success today.

“I was always working and learning,” says Fonk.

As a result, Fonk is not your average property manager. An insatiable appetite to learn and grow means he doesn’t just oversee a real estate rental portfolio worth millions, but also knows exactly what needs to be done to spruce up a home because he has done the work himself.

“I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin where you learned to fix things yourself so in my early days in real estate I would do the electrical, plumbing or carpentry myself,” Fonk says. “I prefer to contract out that work nowadays but it still helps that I can go into a property and see what needs to be repaired and how to fix it.”

Fonk’s unique skill set has earned him the respect of colleagues like Josh Jermaine, a California businessman and entrepreneur who has worked with Fonk.

"Matt is one of the most genuine, knowledgeable and educated guys in his industry,” Jermaine says. “He understands rentals, finance and sales. I would recommend anyone to work with Matt in any capacity."

Fonk’s had his first exposure to the world of real estate while taking a walk with his father as a youngster.

“We meet a guy who was fixing up a house in the neighborhood and renting it out,” recalls Fonk. “I remember thinking that was a really interesting way to earn a living and I guess it always stuck with me.”

In high school, while some of his fellow students were relaxing and trying to figure out fake IDs and the latest computer games, Fonk was already getting his hands dirty in the printing, working a few hours each day learning the business. Upon graduation, Fonk enrolled in Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas where he earned a bachelor’s of science degree in print management. Moving to Florida in 1999, he would go on to manage his own printing company for nine years before deciding it was time to try something new.

“Printing was once a lucrative business but with the advent of the Vistaprint and online printing that changed so when I got an offer to sell the business it came along at the right time,” Fonk says.

Staying home to care for his newborn daughter - Fonk and his wife, Sarah, have two young children – he studied for his real estate license in between diapers. “The baby napped just enough for me to study,” Fonk recalls with a smile.

Even while managing his printing business, Fonk still had a hand in real estate, owning some small properties. “I always had it in the back of my mind that real estate could be a good income. I dabbled in it a little throughout my career and even took a real estate seminar while still running the printing business it wasn’t until I sold the print shop in 2008 that I decided I would pursue it as a career.”

Fonk went on to work for a broker, sold a house or two and absorbed all that he could about the business. “It was a very passive approach so I waited out my time, got my broker’s license and then struck out on my own.”

In 2009, he decided to devote all his energy to building his own company, Cavalier Estates, specializing in rental properties. Formed in 2006, Fonk initially saw the company as a budding venture, perhaps selling one or two homes and managing some rentals.

“I thought we would perhaps pick up a home to remodel and sell from time to time and maybe pick up a couple of rental properties but it has grown into something much.”

Starting out, Fonk was the broker, negotiator, marketer, plumber, cleaner, happily wearing the hats of whatever job needed to be done that day.

“I grabbed whatever I could to build my business at the start but if you have nothing to lose you may as well go after everything until you can whittle your way into a better situation,” Fonk says. “I have remodeled houses myself. It’s not something I would recommend but I had to do it then.”

Focused on acquiring long-term master leases for single-family homes in the Tampa Bay area by attracting quality, long-term tenants, Cavalier has thrived and grown despite a turbulent real estate market in Florida. While other real estate companies have struggled, Fonk has expanded and now manages more than 75 single family homes. 

“Property management is an art and a science,” Fonk says. “There’s a science to setting up agreements and operating the business and there’s an art to negotiating with clients and tenants and if you can do one and not the other, you will fail.”

While the real estate market has seen plenty of volatility in recent years, Fonk’s rules remain the same.

“Who knows what the state of the market is anyway. One article says foreclosures are high while another says homes are being bought up by investment groups. As far as I can see, rents are pretty stable or, in some cases, going up.”

His advice to anyone trying to rent a home? Do your research.

“The first thing I do is check out the market; see what other comparable homes are renting for. Also make sure the house smells and looks clean. It has to present well,” says Fonk, author of a series of webinars on everything from renting to owners with pets to handling evictions.

Today’s tenants are also much more sophiscated customers, Fonk says.

“Tenants today are not the same people we had 15 years ago. People are typically looking for a 3-4 bedroom home with a two-car garage and two bathrooms and they are usually looking to use that fourth bedroom as an office.”

Fonk also cautions against renting on a gut feeling, an error he sees all too often.

“Do background checks. It’s the job interview for a tenant because they are going to become your onsite property manager and if you pick the right person they will take care of the home like it’s their own and do all those little things that keep a home looking clean and presentable.”

As the real estate market recovers from its prolonged hangover, some potential tenants will likely have a foreclosure on their credit, not necessarily a bad thing, Fonk believes.

“I don’t hold foreclosures against people. They were probably sucked into a predatory loan and may have lost a job in the recession. I see foreclosure and think ‘this person has owned a home. They know what it is to maintain a property.’ Those are the type of tenants who won’t call the landlord every week to repair small items. That type of tenant will save a property owner money and headaches in the long run.”

Those types of insights have earned the respect of Steve Tingiris, co-founder and CEO of enthusem.com.

“Over the years Matt has been both a client and a trusted adviser for multiple ventures that I've been involved with,” Tingiris says. “He is one of the few people I know with vision and hands-on knowledge that can objectively weigh in on both how to solve key business challenges and capitalize on new opportunities.”

With a Midwestern’s reluctance to talk about his own achievements, Fonk is succinct when it comes to his recipe for success in Tampa’s highly competitive rental property market.

“It’s about listening, and being straight forward with everyone you work with; and a lot of hard work.”

For more information or questions about the Tampa area rental property market, contact Cavalier Estates online or call 813-200-8774.