Celebrity Real Estate Agents: Alexis & Maxwell Jordon

Maxwell Jordon’s original plan was to attend medical school, but when he was sidelined by an accident, he gave real estate school a try. Though it was a natural fit for him, the timing—the beginning of the housing bust—was terrible. He and his wife Alexis, also his business partner, struggled to find clients and decided to spend their last $75 purchasing a ZIP code on Zillow. The investment paid off immediately and soon the Jordons’ real estate business picked up significantly.

“Getting those leads gave me the ability to showcase my full potential,” Maxwell affirmed. “I just needed the opportunity and Zillow really provided me with it.”

Alexis had already made her start in real estate before Maxwell joined her. He worked as her assistant for a few years before getting his own license. Although he was new to working with buyers and sellers, Maxwell considered himself a problem solver and didn’t hesitate to dive in.

“How well you present this form or that form doesn’t matter if you can’t figure out a way to bring everything together,” Maxwell stated. “You have to learn by doing and it ended up being the best thing for me.”

He applied his problem-solving skills to helping clients find homes, but when a lender was unable to help one of Maxwell’s clients get a loan, Maxwell found someone else to help. He met with Jarrod Swanger, a mortgage banker, and the two started to collaborate on real estate transactions. Swanger eventually approached Maxwell with another business proposition, this time a personal one.

“He told me about an idea he had for a dog collar,” Maxwell said. “I think a lot of people brushed it aside when he told them about it, but after thinking it over for a couple days, I told Jarrod that I’d love to invest.”

The invention, Lucky’s Leash, is a retractable leash and collar all-in-one. The idea was intriguing and the Jordons put up money they made from Zillow-generated leads. Once the business got underway, it caught the eye of Kevin Harrington, chairman of As Seen on TV and one of the original investors on “Shark Tank.” Harrington invited Maxwell and Swanger to his home base in St. Petersburg to discuss the collar in person.

“’Shark Tank’ is for more established businesses that have tested the market, but even though we hadn’t done that, Kevin was already on board before we even got there,” Maxwell recalled.

Harrington signed on as a strategic partner and offered his expertise in marketing, advertising and distribution. The Jordons expect Lucky’s Leash to launch this year and have already shot an ad that stars singer Paula Abdul and the Swarovski crystal-studded custom harness they created just for her pet.

The Jordons are immersed in their real estate careers and still have a great deal of work ahead of them as business partners in Lucky’s Leash, but Alexis and Maxwell have seen it before.

“Backing Lucky’s Leash isn’t all that different from when we got into Zillow and put in our last bit of money,” Maxwell theorized. “If you take a risk on something, you put up a lot in the beginning, but there’s a reward on the other side.”