CLEARWATER - The taste of easy money was just too sweet to pass up.

Steve Casucci sold his home in Staten Island, N.Y., in 2005 for a $200,000 profit.

He had bought the home in foreclosure seven years earlier for $89,000.

"It was a very nice profit," said Casucci, who runs his own business making and selling commercial signs.

And so an idea was born.

Like thousands of dabblers, Casucci became a real estate investor, taking on creative loans to buy up several properties in Florida that seemed destined to increase in value.

"I should have known better," he said. "I should have stopped buying after a few homes. I bought way too much."

The housing market was red-hot in 2005, and Casucci used the Internet to find out that Florida had some of the hottest markets in the country.

He decided to take the $200,000 profit and invest it in real estate.

"I was disillusioned," Casucci said. "I saw a segment about Clearwater Beach on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show.' She called it one of the top 10 beaches. I thought real estate there would always go up."

In a year, Casucci bought seven properties with a combined 15 rental units, a mix of single-family homes, duplexes and triplexes. They are near downtown Clearwater, a short drive from the beach.

But the same market that helped him make a big profit in New York pounded him in Florida. Casucci was buying near the height of the market. He paid top dollar, and the seller made hefty profits.

"I thought they were all good deals, but now my equity has diminished $50,000 to $100,000," he said. "I couldn't realistically sell them in this market."

To stretch his budget, Casucci took out adjustable-rate mortgages and negative amortization loans, in which the payment is less than the accrued monthly interest. He thought it didn't matter because he planned to sell the properties for a quick profit.

He now owes more than the homes are worth. On some of the homes, his principal balance grows each month, even when he makes payments.

Making matters worse, as the economy struggles, some of his tenants have lost jobs or are behind in rent payments. Others have had to move, leaving four properties empty.

Casucci is behind on almost all of his payments on the rental properties. He was able to modify the loan for the home he lives in. It's a duplex, and he rents out the other half.

If the homes are foreclosed on, he said, the stigma on his credit would "ruin me, financially." But Casucci is an optimist — and a risk taker.

He's now working with a real estate company to find buyers for the rest. He's so upside-down in his mortgages, though, that his only hope is to persuade the lender to allow a short sale.

This would let Casucci sell for less than he owes; the lender would eat the rest. He would make no profit but would save his credit from a foreclosure, which would stay on his record for seven years.

He's hopeful. There are so many homes in foreclosure in the area that lenders are doing more short sales to avoid taking back the homes. Still, lenders are more likely to help people who are trying to save their primary homes. Many lenders have little sympathy for investors such as Casucci.

He says he has learned a lesson.

Still, the lure of easy money is calling his name again.

"If I can do short sales and get out of this mess, my credit would be clear in about three to four years," he said. "I could buy property again."

Perhaps, he said, just in time for another upward real estate cycle.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at  (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.