A low-key popular bartender in a Sarasota watering-hole owns a string of single-family homes he rents out, a move that likely puts him into millionaire status. He still pulls beers for weekend tips, even though his assets would likely make many of his flashy customers green with promissory-note envy. He'd rather keep it under all his hat -- tips are better that way, it seems -- probably taxes too.

But a key to this huge Southwest Florida real estate machine is the out-of-town boomer, or at least the boomer who earns money elsewhere and invests it here.

For each real estate mogul you read about, there are tens of thousands of individual investors -- the ones who make the world go 'round for the big developers. They're the investors who step in before the ultimate buyers are even aware of what's happening. They're risk-taking middlemen who believe in the city's future and are prepared to bankroll or personally work to improve their property.

Charles J. Weber, Connie Konsler and Gina LaRouche all own residential property a couple miles apart, Weber on Bird Key, Konsler on Lido Key and LaRouche in central Sarasota. They've never met but have much in common. Each has been married once and is divorced, and each is well educated and fiercely financially independent and wants to remain that way.

They are all forty-something baby boomers with professional backgrounds who have careers and investments elsewhere, but are investing in a big way in Sarasota's real estate market in the hope that they'll make money in the long run and secure their future retirement cribs as soon as possible.

They are all concerned with prices but have all gained significant paper-profits. They describe themselves as long-term investors and each . . . each intends to retire here. But they need to either commute north to earn the money or maintain multiple sources of local income to be able to maintain their Sarasota investments.

They're all players in the great Southwest Florida pastime.

Weber hails from the greater Boston area, Konsler from the Chicago region and LaRouche from Nova Scotia. Weber owns an executive search business which serves the construction industry. Konsler owns a window and door business in Illinois, and LaRouche owns real estate in Panama and Canada, also is a licensed Century 21 real estate broker in Sarasota and dabbles in condo upgrades as well. Weber visits from Boston a couple times a year, Konsler a couple times a month, and LaRouche lives here full time.

They each own one or two investment properties in Sarasota and are willing to pay carrying costs today to have the security of clear titles when they start their respective retirement days. Weber rents out his three-bedroom Bird Key home with pool for about $2,500 per month but still is cash-negative, after insurance, maintenance and taxes. He also bought a leased townhouse in the Las Palmas development near Honore and University Parkway, strictly for the appreciation and cash flow.

Konsler serves as president of the White Sands of Lido Homeowners Association, where she owns a house. More than a year ago, she also bought a $290,000 two-bedroom condominium under construction on U.S. 41 near 10th Street in the soon-to-be-built Broadway Promenade condo development.

Both of Konsler's properties have appreciated on paper, but she still feeds them cash monthly. LaRouche is an urban pioneer having bought a single-family house on a double lot in the sometimes uneasy downtown Sarasota neighborhood of Park East.

Intermingled with young professional resident/investors with tidy well-painted homes are what seem to be almost slum rentals. Code violations are common. Cars park on some lawns for months on end. Parties, noise, high-occupancy and high-turnover vex folks like LaRouche. LaRouche personally rebuilt her home over a year by hand, earning the money to do so in a variety of tough jobs, including waitressing at the Casey Key Fish House at night until her real estate career at Century 21 gains enough traction to support her real estate development habit.

LaRouche is unfazed by the expense nd effort and is looking to put in a pool. She bought her two bedroom house for $88,500 two-and-a-half years ago. It's worth $350,000 today, she thinks, more if she springs for the pool. She's convinced the coming downtown renaissance will have positive spill-over effect in her neighborhood.

Weber does not own a single share of stock. He's only a real estate investor and says he looks for deals "every day." His goal is ride the appreciation of the real estate while earning enough current income "to take the curse off it," in cash-flow terms. With his mortgages, he figures he's about $1,500 cash negative each month, but his properties are "going up by $10,000 a month at the same time."

He gets calls from stock brokers looking to get him into the stock market, but he just laughs at them. After he tells them he buys Sarasota properties for "$18,000 down and flips them within a year for $100,000 profit," he challenges them "to top that."

Meanwhile, Konsler's property at the White Sands of Lido development is an unusual one. The White Sands complex, consisting of seven single-family homes is governed as as a condo association because the house lots are too small to be platted individually. Neighborhood rumors have the older units being built in the early 1930s and stories of circus-clown residences are common among the owners.

The economics of the 900- to 1,200-square-foot units are no joke however: One just sold for above asking price at $701,000. In 1994 it cost $75,000, and in 1999 it was $187,000. Konsler is happy with her investment, but remains concerned about the possibility of a bubble bursting. She's looking to lay off a half interest in her new Broadway condo, "just in case." But come what may with the real estate market, she, Weber and LaRouche all say they're here "for the long run."

If the mortgage interest rates spike up? "More stuff comes onto the market," Weber predicts.

Maybe a lot more.

By STEPHEN FRATER
stephen.frater@heraldtribune.com