THE DEVELOPER | Jason Naumann

Some people might look at Jason Naumann and consider him pretty successful. After all, his real estate company, The Naumann Group, did more than $100 million in sales volume in 2005, just five years after it was founded.

But Naumann, 32, said he’s just getting started.

“I’m very happy with where our company is currently, but I just know that there is so much more that can be accomplished,” he said. “I feel as if we have just now finished laying our company’s foundation so that we can soon begin to really build upon it for the future.

“We have been very blessed, and want to grow an organization that not only benefits the consumers, but everyone who is a part of the team,” Naumann said. “Our staff and agents have been a key ingredient to our success, and without them the company would not be where it is today.”

Naumann said he comes from a long line of real estate entrepreneurs, but he wanted to try new things.

“I decided to go away to college so that I could expand my horizons and see what else was out there for me,” he said. “I was interested in marketing and thought that was the direction I was going to take.”

But, he said, God had other plans.

Waiting tables in his sophomore year at Florida State University, a customer, Teresa Turner – of Turner Heritage Homes – recognized that his personality could sell and suggested a career in real estate. He quit waiting tables that week and went to work for Turner.

Naumann said he would put in 60- to 70-hour weeks straight through the last two years of college; later, he left Turner Heritage Homes and went to work for developer and builder Robert Parrish. At 22, Naumann was selling and managing the townhome community of Maclay Hammock.

Naumann started The Naumann Group Real Estate Inc. in 2001 and finally had something of his own.

“I was given the opportunity to sell BrackenChase communities, which allowed us to create entire communities based on the demands of the consumer,” he said. “My goal has always been to create places people want to live by asking what they want in their neighborhoods, and helping to create just that.”

The Naumann Group currently has six full-time employees, five offices and 17 selling agents. – Jason Dehart