Ryland Homes Starts Selling, Construction underway of New Model Home at Tupelo in Mount Pleasant

CHARLESTON, S.C. --- Ryland Homes recently started new home sales, and construction of a new model home at Tupelo, located on Hwy. 17 North near Wando High School in Mt. Pleasant. Don McDonough, division president of Ryland Homes in the Charleston region, said Ryland plans to build 60 new three, four and five bedroom homes in the first phase at Tupelo priced from the $200s. Eventually, Ryland Homes plans to build up to 300 new homes at Tupelo. Ryland Homes also has plans underway for an amenity center with a swimming pool, McDonough added. Ryland currently builds single family homes in seven communities throughout the Charleston-Myrtle Beach region. Visit www.ryland.com.

Investment expert George Livingston eyes bigger role for REITS as real estate market recovers, biggest targets will be retail, senior housing

MAITLAND, Fla. --- REITs — Real Estate Investment Trusts — will play a demonstrably larger role as the real estate market recovers, says longtime investment specialist George Livingston, chairman of NAI Realvest in Maitland. And while rental apartment communities will likely remain bread-and-butter projects for most REITs, Livingston said he expects REITs to play in increasingly aggressive role in the acquisition and development of senior housing facilities and retail properties. “As a rule, REITs tend to seek passive investments and refer assets with safe, predictable dividends,” Livingston explained. “REITs have played such a dominant role in multi-family housing that there is less room for expansion now. We anticipate more adventurous REITs will accept higher risk and the opportunity for higher dividends by investing in secondary property types as the economy improves, along with senior housing facilities,” he said. Livingston said REITs have recovered in a generally uniform manner with positive returns since 2009. “The best performing REITs were better capitalized, has access to more financing options, owned better quality assets, and sought less risky strategies,” he said. But that may change as the market recovers in 2013. “Recent returns in U.S. REITs were roughly the same as the American broad market. In past years, the REITs typically outperformed U.S. stocks,” Livingston said. “Capital for growth is available from institutional partners, public offerings, secondary offerings and free sale of assets, and the overall outlook for REITs is very positive,” Livingston said.

Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty Appoints Lindsey Wells Associate in Orlando/Dr. Phillips Global Marketing Center

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty has appointed Lindsey Wells an International Luxury Homes Specialist in its Orlando/Dr. Phillips Global Marketing Center. Roger Soderstrom, founder and owner of Stirling Sotheby’s International Realty, said Wells was born in the U.K. and taught English to active adults in Poland, Spain, Turkey and Slovakia. As a member of the British First Minister’s Team at the inception of the Welsh Assembly government, she served as a liaison with the Royal Family 10 Downing Street, Soderstrom said. She was raised in a hunting, shooting and fishing family and was a frequent fox hunter and avid skier. As a graduate of the Realtor Institute, Wells earned the coveted GRI professional designation and is also credentialed as a Short Sale and Foreclosure Realtor (SFR). She is a member of the Global Business Committee and Global Networking Forum, Soderstrom added. Wells moved to Orlando two years ago and has served as a state investment properties representative and a sales associate at Solivita. Soderstrom said Wells will specialize in luxury home sales, investment properties, active adult communities and land acquisitions.

Ryland Homes Celebrates New Phase at Oakleaf Hammock in Ellenton with Grand Reopening

Ellenton, Fla. --- Ryland Homes recently celebrated its newest phase with a grand reopening at Oakleaf Hammock, Ryland’s gated residential community located on 70th Avenue East, off Mendoza Road just east of I-75 in Ellenton. Tony Crimi, vice president of sales and marketing for Ryland Homes in the Tampa Bay region, said Ryland’s newest phase at Oakleaf Hammock features 39 new three, four and five-bedroom single-family homes priced from the low $200s. New one and two-story homes at Oakleaf Hammock range in size from 2,256 square feet of living space to 3,500 square feet. Eight distinctive floor plans are available. The five-bedroom Siesta model home at Oakleaf Hammock is open for tours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from noon to 6 p.m. Sundays. The Siesta model home offers three-and-a-half baths and a spacious 3,154 square feet of living space, priced from $254,990 with a three-car garage. Oakwood Hammock features a basketball court, multi-sports field, community picnic area and children’s playground. Ryland Homes builds single-family homes and town homes priced from the $100s to more than $300,000 in six communities in Manatee and Sarasota counties. For more information please go to www.ryland.com/tampa.

Stoneybrook Golf Club in Winter Garden completes overseeding of golf course

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. --- Stoneybrook Golf Club recently completed the reseeding of the entire golf course. Kenny Nairn, executive vice president of golf at Celebration Golf Management, said typically only the greens and fairways are over seeded. The new expanded operation cost more than $30,000. Nairn said the over seeding improves the course overall but doesn’t do much to speed up the greens — for good reason. “Stoneybrook Golf Course features some of the fastest in Florida,” Nairn said. “The Stimpmeter reads 10.5 at Stoneybrook and that’s just a little slower than the hardwood floor in my living room,” Nairn joked.

Ashton Woods Homes to Start Development of 48 Town Homes at Seaside at Indian Shores

Indian Shores Beach, Fla. --- Ashton Woods Homes will start construction soon of the first of 48 luxury town homes planned at its newest community of Seaside at Indian Shores located off Gulf Boulevard overlooking the Intercoastal in Indian Shores Beach in Pinellas County. John Reny, division president of Ashton Woods Homes in the Tampa region, said three and four bedroom town homes at Seaside at Indian Shores will range in size from 2,000 square feet of living space to 2,300 square feet. Reny said Ashton Woods will break ground on two models there in the spring. Several of the new town homes at Seaside at Indian Shores will feature rooftop terraces with spectacular views of the Gulf of Mexico. A community pool is among the planned amenities, along with 17 boat docks that will be available to residents. Ashton Woods Homes, headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the nation’s largest private homebuilding companies with operations in growth communities in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Killeen, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, Raleigh and Tampa. For more information, visit http://www.ashtonwoods.com .

First Green Bank Opens Downtown Orlando Branch, Judged one of the nation’s Greenest banks

MOUNT DORA, Fla. --- First Green Bank, which ranks as one of the greenest banks and one of the nation’s safest banks, opened its downtown Orlando branch at 1118 S. Orange Ave. recently. Located across the street from the Orlando Health campus and ORMC, the Downtown Orlando location is the bank’s fourth Central Florida office, said Kenneth LaRoe, chairman and chief executive officer of the bank. A formal grand opening reception has been scheduled for April 11 at 6 p.m., LaRoe said. The bank’s headquarters facility on U.S. 441 in Mount Dora is one of only a few commercial buildings in Florida — and the second in Lake County — to have earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum LEED rating for energy efficiency and sustainability. First Green Bank’s sustainability efforts led American Banker magazine to rank First Green Bank as one of the nation’s “greenest” banks. Last year, First Green Bank was named the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2011 Business of the Year. A recent survey of more than 7,900 banks by Microsoft Network (MSN.com) ranks Firsts Green Bank one of the safest banks in the U.S. and one of only 12 in Florida. In spring of last year First Green Bank opened a branch location in Ormond Beach and also maintains a branch facility in Clermont. LaRoe said he expects to open a Winter Park location in late 2013 and is currently looking at sites.

Lennar Introduces Villa Homes at Reflection Lakes and Reflection Isles

FORT MYERS, Fla. --- Lennar has introduced its villa homes priced — “Everything’s Included” — from $179,900 at Reflection Isles and Reflection Lakes, located at River Otter Drive in Fort Myers, north of Daniels Parkway off Palomino Lake. Matt Devereaux, vice president of sales and marketing at Lennar Homes in the southwest Florida region, said the Magnolia villa home offers three bedrooms and two baths in 1,417 square feet of living space with a two-car garage. Devereaux said the Orchid villa home offers 1,564 square feet of living space with two bedrooms, two baths, a study or a den, and a two-car garage. “Everything’s Included” means everything from window, wall and floor treatments to upgraded appliances, counters and cabinets, landscaping and, well, everything that would usually be added on is included in one Lennar price,” Devereaux explained. New homes at Reflections Isles and Reflection Lakes are priced from the $170s to the low $200s. Visit www.lennar.com.

Avalon Park Group Promotes Stephanie Hodson to Vice President of Marketing

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Avalon Park Group, the developers of Avalon Park in East Orlando and Avalon Park West in Wesley Chapel has promoted Stephanie Hodson to vice president of marketing. Eric Marks, president of Avalon Park Group, said Hodson joined Avalon Park Group in 2003 as marketing coordinator. Hodson was instrumental in developing many of the events and traditions that have become icons at Avalon Park, including the Avalon Park Farmers Market, Movies Under the Stars, Oktoberfest and Fourth of July Celebration. In 2012, Hodson took over responsibility for marketing Avalon Park West in Wesley Chapel, the 1,651 acre master planned community designed to include 4,800 single family and multi family homes and more than 560,000 square feet of retail and 120,000 square feet of office space.