Pull Up a Chair. This Is the Story of SunLife Homes.
Two founders. The whole story of how a kid with a drafting board and a Realtor® who believed in his vision ended up building one of the most trusted new home builders in Southwest Florida.
Transcript
For Those Who Like to Read.
Every Word Is Here Too.
Everything Jeff and Rosario say in that video is also written below. Because some people are at work. Some people have the sound off. And because the words matter, whether you hear them or read them.
Where It All Started
It Started on a Drafting Board His Grandfather Gave Him.
Jeff Kershner was not always a builder. He was supposed to be an architect. He went to architecture school. Learned the theory. Learned the craft. Then figured something out that changed everything.
So he went into homebuilding. Worked his way up to Director of Product Design for a major Chicago homebuilder. Built everything from entry-level production homes to four-million-dollar custom builds. Then he came to Florida. Found Cape Coral. Found the land. And called Rosario.
Rosario Terracciano had spent over twenty years as a licensed realtor. He had worked alongside Jeff for four years before he ever agreed to become his partner. He already knew everything he needed to know about the kind of builder Jeff was.
"His heart is in every single house. I mean it really is. He is the only one I would want to work for if I can be totally honest."
Rosario Terracciano Co-Founder, SunLife Homes
Where It All Started
It Started on a Drafting Board His Grandfather Gave Him.
Jeff Kershner was not always a builder. He was supposed to be an architect. He went to architecture school. Learned the theory. Learned the craft. Then figured something out that changed everything.
So he went into homebuilding. Worked his way up to Director of Product Design for a major Chicago homebuilder. Built everything from entry-level production homes to four-million-dollar custom builds. Then he came to Florida. Found Cape Coral. Found the land. And called Rosario.
Rosario Terracciano had spent over twenty years as a licensed Realtor®. He had worked alongside Jeff for four years before he ever agreed to become his partner. He already knew everything he needed to know about the kind of builder Jeff was.
"His heart is in every single house. I mean it really is. He is the only one I would want to work for if I can be totally honest."
Rosario Terracciano Co-Founder, SunLife Homes
Two Founders. One Standard.
Jeff Owns the Product. Rosario Owns the Operation. Neither Would Have It Any Other Way.
Jeff designs every floor plan personally. He walks every finished home before it ever goes to market. No SunLife home is listed for sale until Jeff has seen it himself. He lives in one of his own homes in Cape Coral today. He drives these streets, points at houses, and says, "I built that."
Rosario runs everything that makes it all possible at scale. Operations. Systems. Capital structure. Construction lenders. Private investors. The back office. Everything that lets Jeff stay completely focused on the product and lets the product stay completely focused on you.
Two completely different superpowers. One standard that has never moved since the day they opened their doors.
"I live in one of our homes. I drive these streets and point at houses and say I built that. That feeling never gets old."
Jeff Kershner, Co-Founder, SunLife Homes
The Day Everything Changed
Seven Words That Started Everything.
Jeff said them out loud one day and never stopped meaning them.
"I want everybody to experience the SunLife."
Rosario was there. He has never forgotten it. They were not going to build pools. And then they started. Because when Jeff said everybody, he meant it. Not the people who could already afford the dream version of Florida. Everybody. The first-time buyer. The family finally ready to make the move. The retiree who thought this life was for other people.
That moment is the entire company. The price points. The quality at every level. The belief that attainable and exceptional are not opposites.
"I will never forget the day Jeff said I want everybody to experience the SunLife. We were not going to build pools. And then we started."
Rosario Terracciano Co-Founder, SunLife Homes
"We believe in home ownership. We believe that everybody should be able to attain it. We build across multiple price points because we want to deliver a product that is affordable but quality. Something you can be proud of."
Jeff Kershner, Co-Founder, SunLife Homes
What Drives Them
Everything You Do, You Do With All Your Heart.
Both Jeff and Rosario are men of faith. They do not press that on anyone. But it is the reason they own their mistakes quickly. It is the reason the standard never moves. It is the reason Jeff walks every house, even when nobody is watching.
"There is a Bible verse that says everything you do, you do it with all your heart as if you are serving the Lord and not just men. We are both men of faith and I believe that is ultimately what drives us."
Rosario Terracciano Co-Founder, SunLife Homes
What Drives Them
Everything You Do, You Do With All Your Heart.
Both Jeff and Rosario are men of faith. They do not press that on anyone. But it is the reason they own their mistakes quickly. It is the reason the standard never moves. It is the reason Jeff walks every house, even when nobody is watching.
"There is a Bible verse that says everything you do, you do it with all your heart as if you are serving the Lord and not just men. We are both men of faith and I believe that is ultimately what drives us."
Rosario Terracciano Co-Founder, SunLife Homes
The Team
Jeff and Rosario Built the Team the Same Way They Build the Homes.
Our New Home Advisors know every floor plan, every available home, every community, and every step of the SunLife build process. If you have a question, they have the answer, and will get back to you the same day.
Ready When You Are
Come See What This Team Built.
Walk through a SunLife model home in Cape Coral or Port Charlotte. See exactly what it looks like when a whole team builds every home as if their reputation depends on it. Because it does.
Ready When You Are
Come See What This Team Built.
Walk through a SunLife model home in Cape Coral or Port Charlotte. See exactly what it looks like when a whole team builds every home as if their reputation depends on it. Because it does.
Quick Answers
Your Questions About the People Behind SunLife Homes. Answered.
Who founded SunLife Homes?
SunLife Homes was first founded in Cape Coral, Florida by Jeff Kershner and Rosario Terracciano, who became partners in 2016 after working across the table from each other for four years. Jeff runs product: design, floor plans, pricing and quality. Rosario runs the business: operations, systems, capital and lender relationships. Ten years in, they have built through a pandemic, a hurricane and three different interest rate environments without changing the build standard.
Who is Jeff Kershner?
Jeff Kershner is co-founder and CEO of SunLife Homes and the designer of every floor plan the company builds. Before Florida he was Director of Product Design for a major Chicago homebuilder, where he worked on everything from entry level production homes to four million dollar customs. He founded SunLife in Cape Coral to prove that the standard on the four million dollar house could be applied to a house a first time buyer can afford.
Who is Rosario Terracciano?
Rosario Terracciano is co-founder and COO of SunLife Homes. He spent more than twenty years as a licensed Realtor® before joining Jeff as a partner in 2016, which means the person running operations has sat on the buyer's side of the closing table thousands of times. He owns operations, systems, staffing, land acquisition, capital structure and lender relationships, and he built the Realtor® partner program around what he wished builders had done for him.
Is SunLife Homes a faith-based company?
Jeff and Rosario are both men of faith and they will tell you it shapes how they run the company. In practice that shows up as owning mistakes quickly, doing the work when nobody is checking, and treating a buyer at any price range the same. SunLife builds for families of every background.