Ryland Homes Earns Two Major Awards in Charlotte Parade of Homes

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Ryland Homes earned Gold and Silver awards in judging during the Home Builders Association of Charlotte’s 2011 Parade of Homes.

Krista Long, vice president of sales and marketing for Ryland Homes in the Charlotte region, said the Eastman model home at Lauren Village, 1329 Lauren Village Drive in the University area, won the Parade’s highest award for homes priced from $140,000 to $220,000.

Parade judges bestowed the Gold award on Ryland’s two-story Eastman model home at Lauren Village, which offers three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths in 1,689 square feet of living space with a two-car garage.

The Eastman model home is priced from $136,990.

The Ingleton model home at Westland Farm, 217 Fielding St. in Mount Holly, earned Ryland the Parade’s Silver award for single-family homes priced from $221,000 to $289,000.

The two story Ingleton model home at Westland Farm offers four bedrooms and two and one half baths in 2,630 square feet of living space with a two-car garage priced from $178,990.

About Ryland Homes

With headquarters in Southern California, Ryland is one of the nation’s largest homebuilders and a leading mortgage-finance company. The company currently operates in 28 markets across the country and has built more than 275,000 homes and financed more than 230,000 mortgages since its founding in 1967. Ryland is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “RYL.”

Mattamy Homes Starts Presales of Three-Bedroom, Two-Bath Town Homes Priced from the $150s at Nona Preserve at Lake Nona

WINTER PARK, Fla. --- Mattamy Homes U.S. Group, a division of Canada’s largest homebuilder, has started presales of three-bedroom, two-bath town homes at Nona Preserve at Lake Nona, located on Narcoossee Road in southeast Orlando.

Steve Parker, president of Mattamy Homes U.S. Group, said new town homes at Nona Preserve at Lake Nona are priced from the $150s and range in size from 1,500 square feet of living space with private garages.

Parker said Mattamy will build 24 new town homes in the first phase at Nona Preserve at Lake Nona.

Mattamy Homes will open two model town homes at Nona Preserve at Lake Nona in June. A grand opening is slated for July.

About Mattamy Homes U.S. Group

Mattamy Homes www.mattamyhomes.com expanded into the U.S. in 2003 and is headquartered in Winter Park, Fla. with divisions in Orlando, Jacksonville Phoenix, Minneapolis and Charlotte. The homebuilder, the largest and most active in Canada with annual revenues exceeding $1.3 billion was ranked among the highest of all homebuilders in the greater Toronto and Ottawa areas in a nationwide customer satisfaction survey conducted by J.D. Power Associates.

Ashton Woods Homes Opens New Phase With 73 single family home sites at the Reserve at Berkshire Park in Windermere

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Ashton Woods Homes has opened a new phase with 73 new single family home sites at the Reserve at Berkshire Park a new semi-custom home neighborhood in the community located off Overstreet Road and C.R. 535 in Windermere.

Michael Roche, vice president of sales and marketing for Ashton Woods Homes in the Orlando region, said new three, four and five bedroom single-family homes in the new phase will be priced from $234,900.

New homes at the Reserve at Berkshire Park range in size from approximately 2,000 square feet of living space to 3,300 square feet.

Roche said more than 60 premium home sites in the new phase front on conservation areas, community ponds or are oversized home sites.

Ashton Woods Homes is one of the nation’s largest private homebuilding companies with operations in Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, Raleigh, Dallas, Houston, Austin and Phoenix.

Tolaris Realty Group reports 67.3 percent increase in luxury home sales and traffic in Winter Park, Lake Mary, South Orlando

SANFORD, Fla. –Tolaris Realty Group, is reporting it has seen a 67.3 percent increase in luxury home sales and traffic since Jan. 1 for luxury homes and lakefront properties in Winter Park, Lake Mary and South Orlando and beachfront condominiums in Brevard and Volusia Counties.

Rick Bavec, president of Tolaris Realty Group, said the firm has handled more than 40 transactions since the start of the year. Most luxury home buyers are paying cash, Bavec said.

Tolaris Realty Group recently hosted a realtor seminar at Alaqua Country Club to discuss short sales and foreclosures. Bavec said real estate Attorney Reinhard Stephan conducted the seminar.

“Many area realtors attended the seminar and we plan to host a series of similarly themed seminars in the future,” Bavec said.

Future seminars will be open to the public.

NAI Realvest Extends Hudson Restaurant Property Online Auction to June 8

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Paul P. Partyka, managing partner at NAI Realvest in Maitland, is going online to sell a 9,367 square foot restaurant building on a 2.8 acre site in Hudson to the highest bidder on June 8.

Partyka said the facility, located on S.R. 52 in Hudson between U.S. 19 and County Road 1, is well located on a busy thoroughfare, posts daily traffic counts that range between 30,000 and 63,000, surrounded by residential neighborhoods.

“It’s an excellent opportunity for development as a restaurant or for redevelopment with another use,” Partyka said.

Buyers of mid-range commercial facilities don’t often tour Hudson looking for opportunities.

“The online auction format offers us an excellent opportunity,” Partyka said. “We can present to a worldwide audience of potential bidders who are more interested in the facts---demographics, location, facility size, parking---than the general area,” he explained.

NAI Realvest designed a special web site for the auction at NAIauction.com/Hudson, and bids will be accepted online from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8.

Introducing David Toro, Luxury Homes Specialist at Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty

Orlando, Fla. --- David Toro, International Luxury Homes Specialist at Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty, has a different take on the real estate market from many market observers.

“In my role as an International Luxury Homes Specialist at Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty I have met countless celebrities, engineers, lawyers, doctors, business owners, and executives,” Toro said.

“While many educated individuals look down upon today's real estate market, I see a breadth of opportunity,” he said.

“We are emerging from an unprecedented housing market, but positive trends are already beginning to emerge. Buyers are leaving the sidelines and sellers are adjusting to the realities of the market. That’s a win/win situation, because as the supply curve dwindles, and as the demand curve increases, we will begin seeing a steady upbeat of market valuation,” he added.

For Toro, Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty has the best grasp of market conditions and the infrastructure to shape the market.

“Our marketing department constantly innovates new avenues for our listings. We are at the forefront of the industry. Luxury QR CODE marketing is a good example of our industry-leading efforts---we are among the first real estate firms in the U.S. to implement barcodes that can be scanned from your smart phone. The codes direct users to templates on the web that depict the properties features, and in some instances, we redirect our customers to video presentations of our homes,” Toro said.

“The National association of Realtors and Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty have acknowledged that video marketing is one of the most effective avenues of distribution to social media circles, so we have made it an important part of our business to develop media. Our company has an unlimited variety of proprietary marketing avenues that distinguish us from the competition,” he said.

Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty produces results that would be inaccessible elsewhere, Toro asserts.

“I have worked with many high net worth individuals,” Toro said. “In one case, I negotiated a million dollars off the asking price for a luxury property. While this is a career benchmark, benchmarks result when determination, the skills of a professional real estate advisor, and a brokering agency with a powerful infrastructure all come together,” he said.

That infrastructure extends outside the traditional “Realtor” scope, Toro added.

“Most people don’t realize that Stirling has a worldwide auction group that can auction off real estate in any part of the globe. If you have a multi million dollar property that your’re interested in selling, we can, and will sell it at market value or better,” he said.

About Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty:

Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty is affiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty, the largest luxury real estate brand in the world. Stirling Sotheby’s exclusive services include luxury residential, new homes, commercial, property management, in addition to supporting builders, developers, lenders, and asset managers. The company operates three performance zones which serve all of Central Florida. Visit www.StirlingSIR.com.