For the second month in a row, Florida’s existing home sales rose in October, with Florida Realtors reporting a 15 percent increase in activity in the year-to-year comparison; October’s sales of existing condos statewide increased 5 percent in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR).
A total of 10,443 existing homes sold statewide in October, up 15 percent over the 9,118 homes sold in October 2007, according to FAR. Florida Realtors also reported higher statewide existing home and existing condo sales …

Many Florida Realtors statewide noted positive movement in their local housing markets in June, with an upswing in the statewide median price reported for both existing home sales and condominium sales over May 2008, according to the latest housing statistics released by the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR).
The statewide existing-home median price in June was $205,500, up 1 percent from May’s median price of $203,300. The median price of an existing condo last month was $183,700, also up 1 percent from May’s figure of $181,800.
Nationally, existing home sales are expected …

Lisa Fox, broker associate, has joined Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Inc. as a full-time sales associate working out of the Coral Gables Office, Sunset Branch, according to managing broker Charlette Seidel. Lisa has resided in Miami since 1968, is bi-lingual and has five years of previous residential real estate experience.
A specialist in residential real estate and design, she is a member of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, and a graduate of Leadership Miami of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. She is also involved with The Miami Feet …

Jose Carlos Jimenez has been named sales executive for Infinity at Brickell, the all-loft condominium tower rising in the Brickell area. DYL Group, developer of luxury residential condominiums, hotels, resorts and retail/mixed-use projects throughout South Florida including Infinity at Brickell, expects the project to be complete by this fall.
Throughout his career, Jimenez has successfully competed in fast-paced environments where he specialized in domestic and global sales, business development, training and team building. He has worked for firms such as Fortune International Realty, where he was a multimillion dollar producer, B-Developments …

Richard Lamondin has joined International Sales Group (ISG) as head of the firm’s newly established Caribbean Division. Although ISG has had an international broker network since its inception 15 years ago, the company decided to focus specifically on the Caribbean market. ISG has recently earned exclusive representation of several projects in Panama and Puerto Rico with Donald Trump and seeks to expand its reach into other destination markets.
Lamondin’s expertise in master planned communities is helping shape the positioning of projects such as Trump International Golf Club in Puerto Rico and …

Chicago-based Laramar Group, a fully-integrated real estate investment and management company, announced the acquisition of Oceanview Apartments, a 160-unit waterfront property located in Boca Raton.
The Oceanview property, to be re-named Villa Oceana Apartments, was previously a condominium conversion project, and is now designated to be renovated as luxury waterfront apartment units.
Laramar acquired the note on the Oceanview property from the senior lender and negotiated with the mezzanine lender and the current owner to complete an amicable foreclosure process. During the foreclosure process, Laramar was appointed as receiver and took over …

Jerry Libbin, a Miami Beach City Commissioner, has begun a campaign to protect Florida’s condominium unit owners from unfair assessments levied on them when banks foreclose on other units in their buildings.
The current residential real estate market has forced thousands of condo unit holders to pay higher assessment fees so they can maintain their buildings because banks holding mortgages on distressed condo units are not required to pay the full assessment costs.
Under current Florida law, banks and other mortgage holders only have to pay 1 percent of the normal condo …

South Florida real estate sales and marketing firm International Sales Group (ISG) has hired Camilo Lopez as sales manager focusing on broker relations in New York City and Washington, D.C. Lopez is based out of the firm’s Aventura office and travels to both locations frequently to present the portfolio of projects ISG represents on three continents, including Trump International Residences Puerto Rico.
A licensed realtor, Lopez specializes in the sale of pre-construction condominiums and residential and office condo conversions in the South Florida market. He is a principal in a premier …

Miami-based Majestic Properties recently announced the launch of Majestic Solutions, a division established to strategically guide investors, real estate developers, banks and other deep-value buyers through the complicated maze of real estate investment opportunities present in today’s South Florida condominium market. Majestic Solutions is comprised of seasoned financial and real estate experts from the Northeast, West Coast, Europe and Latin America, inclusive of founder and CEO Jeff Morr.
Between 2002 and now, 22,737 condominium units were built or are currently under construction in Miami. Only 9,494 of the completed units have …

Ponce Circle Developers LLC made history when they hosted an implosion of 2801 Ponce, a 13-story office building in Coral Gables. With 90 pounds of explosives, Dykon Blasting Corp. brought down a significant portion of the city’s first high-rise and followed it up with an additional 20 pounds of explosive material to completely demolish the building the following morning. In its place will be the 16-story Ponce de Leon Towers by The Allen Morris Company, integrated into the separately owned Old Spanish Village, a $350 million new urbanism development.
Area residents, …