Leonard Leonard & Associates Inc

Real estate agent · credit · Brand marketing · House building

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420 Downing Street , 80218 Denver

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With so many community service projects, it's hard to imagine that Leonard Leonard & Associates still finds time to sell properties, and yet the residential real estate firm was ranked third in production at the 2002 Denver Board of Realtors Round Table Awards, posting $32 million in sales last year. Founded in 1983 by Sonja and Peter Leonard, Leonard Leonard boasts the family coat of arms as the company logo - it turns out that Peter and Sonja are actually 13th cousins. "We're like little country bumpkins," said Sonja, describing the company. "It's very family oriented." A true family affair, the Leonards put their two children, Lee Lee and P.J. to work at an early age. "We stamped envelopes, handed our fliers, held open houses," remembered Lee Lee, now the company's marketing director and Web site designer. "I've been involved since I can remember." With 16 associates, the small company strives to help others not only locally but on a global level. "We're doing something all the time," Sonja said. Last October, Leonard Leonard took over the annual Dora Moore house tour, raising $18,000 for the school. "That pays for both the art teacher and music teacher at Dora Moore," Sonja said. "It really does help them out a lot." Sonja also was the 2001 recipient of the Clara Barton Society, an annual award given to the highest local contributors to the International Red Cross. "All my money goes to Africa, that's my only stipulation" said Sonja, who donated about $10,000 last year. "I've been to seven different countries there and it is definitely where my heart is in the world, I just love it." Leonard Leonard also pays for the schooling of an 8-year-old West African boy. "The money that you send to us was a big contribution for the education of our son Agib, and the money came in the moment which we needed it," wrote Mady Conte, Amadou Agib Conte's father, in a letter to Sonja. "That was really a good surprise for us." Two years ago, Sonja and Lee Lee went on a humanitarian aid trip to Havana, Cuba, taking with them $14,000 in medical and school supplies that they had collected in Denver. "The people are so very intelligent, and yet they have nothing," said Sonja. "The hospital I went to was using equipment from the 1950s." Sonja admits that she has no problem asking clients to contribute to their wide variety of causes, calling many of them her strongest backers. "Our clients are extremely supportive," she said. "It's fun to be at this stage of the game." In 1997, when Sonja's longtime friend and neighbor Marilyn Massey willed her North Country Club home to the Salvation Army, Leonard Leonard offered to sell the house commission-free. Organizing a silent auction, they ended up selling the home for $242,000, saving the Salvation Army $17,000 in commission fees. "It was really phenomenal, a huge success," Sonja said. "It was a win-win situation for everyone." And while Peter is still vice president of the company, he is currently spending the majority of his time in Saigon working to open a school there, partly funded by Leonard Leonard. P.J. is now a sea captain for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Lee Lee, on top of working for Leonard Leonard, also is an artist who has founded her own nonprofit organization called Voices. Still looking to do more, Sonja is in the process of developing a program where a certain percentage of every home sale commission goes towards housing in a Third World country. "You can build a house in Vietnam for $1,000, it's just amazing," she said. "I think people would like that idea - you sell your home in Congress Park and a house is built in DaNang for a family of four." With their offices located in a turn-of-the-century Victorian home, the firm specializes in selling homes in neighborhoods like Country Club, Washington Park, Cheesman Park and others. "Primarily what we do is where we live, where we send our kids to school," she said. "I like that it's small and friendly." With the office cat wandering around and Lee Lee's art covering the walls, the staff frequently gathers for lunch or cocktails in the backyard landscaped with fountains by Peter. "It's sure nice to have an artist and landscaper in the family," Sonja said laughing. "It still feels like a family business. I hate elevators going up to a corporate sterile existence. You're at the office eight hours a day, it might as well be fun." Other annual events include an Easter egg hunt, pumpkin patch and coat drive for local underprivileged children. "We don't do anything fancy, I want to stay simple and plain,' Sonja said.

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420 Downing Street , 80218 Denver

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