What’s the first image that comes to mind when you think of a teenage salesman? A kid peddling khakis at the Gap? Well, consider Corpus Christi high school senior Jacob Sudhoff, who sells something more substantial: luxury homes. “I used to ride around my neighborhood on my bike and look at all the open houses just for fun,” he says. In 1997 he called Marilyn Hoffman of Dallas-based Hoffman International, whose properties sell for an average of $2.5 million, and asked for a job. Though Sudhoff wasn’t old enough to close deals by himself, she agreed to let him open a Hoffman branch in his hometown with the help of a local realtor. As the state’s youngest real estate rep, he showed houses and assisted with closings. Last November, after turning eighteen, he earned his license and began working for ReMax. A couple of months later he made his first sale on his own, and he’s now closing a deal on an $800,000 home in the Gulf Coast town of Portland. Prospective clients, take note: This fall Sudhoff will enroll at either Southern Methodist University or Baylor, and he plans to continue selling real estate while in college. “By then,” he says, “I’ll probably only show homes that are $1 million plus.”
