A vacation rental management business on Topsail Island has a new owner, the firm announced Tuesday.

Mike Harrington, new president and principal owner of Topsail Realty Vacations LLC, said he acquired the company last month for an undisclosed amount from Randy Leeseberg.

Leeseberg, whose family started the business in 1973, has moved into an advisory role with the company and will work with Harrington on strategy and operations, a news release said. The firm was previously known as Topsail Realty and will continue using the shortened form of its new name, Harrington said.

Harrington previously served as CEO of Resort Realty, a vacation rental management and real estate sales firm in the Outer Banks. A graduate of East Carolina University who was a four-year scholarship athlete on ECU's baseball team, Harrington has a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor's in business management. He's also president of the N.C. Vacation Rental Managers Association.

"I think that Mike is the perfect person to take over Topsail Realty," Leeseberg said in the announcement. "His extensive involvement and experience within the vacation rental industry, combined with his understanding of how to use technology, will greatly benefit all of our property owners and guests, as well as the Topsail Island vacation rental marketplace as a whole.  Had our deal not worked out, I would have wanted to hire Mike anyway.”

Harrington said Tuesday that Topsail Island as a whole is about 93 to 95 percent booked for July, according to a recent analysis.

“People are starting to book now for the fall, and in general, it’s a pretty strong vacation rental market,” he said.

Currently, Topsail Realty manages properties in the towns of Surf City and Topsail Beach with a staff of about 10 employees. Harrington said the firm plans to expand to North Topsail Beach in the future, but that’s not the only area in which Topsail Realty is likely to grow.

“We’ll be looking at [the number of] employees probably over the next 12 months,” he said. “We plan to expand some in-house services that traditionally we’d use contractors for, so that’ll require hiring some folks. We’re in growth mode right now, launching a new website in the fall and a host of more modern, travel-friendly products for people to book online, pay online, manage their lease and vacation details online.”

Harrington said the company plans to introduce a smart home program which will provide options such as keyless entry and remote thermostat monitoring.

Although Topsail Realty does not engage in sales, the firm has a strategic partnership with Intracoastal Realty, one of Wilmington’s largest residential real estate firms, Harrington said. That means when Topsail Realty clients or customers express an interest in selling or buying, Topsail Realty employees refer them to Intracoastal, he said.