Bobby Soroory, 34

Bobby Soroory jump-started his success in real estate at 17 years old.

It was 2002, and times were good. “They were offering 100% mortgages to anyone,” Soroory says. He convinced his dad to cosign on an $80,000 townhome near University of South Florida. He worked on the home over weekends and eventually flipped it — making a $15,000 profit.

“I was living at home with only a cellphone bill,” Soroory says. "Not knowing any better, I thought I found my career. This was easy, so I’ll keep going." He flipped a couple more homes and then decided to tackle a bigger project: building 28 townhomes next to USF, right before what turned out to be the market crash.