Ashton Woods Homes Recognized With 2009 Energy Star-Leadership in Housing Award

Ashton Woods Homes Recognized With 2009 Energy Star-Leadership in Housing Award - Ashton Woods Homes Earns Award for Building new Homes that Protect the Environment Through Energy Efficiency

ORLANDO, Fla. – Ashton Woods Homes was recently recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a 2009 ENERGY STAR Leadership in Housing Award. The award recognizes the important contribution Ashton Woods Homes has made to energy-efficient construction and environmental protection by building more than 1,202 ENERGY STAR qualified homes last year. Collectively, these homes will save its customers approximately $537,294 on utility bills each year.

The environmental benefits of ENERGY STAR qualified homes are equal to the equivalent of:
•Eliminating the emissions from 589 vehicles;
•Saving 3,562,728 trees;
•Planting 1,201 acres of trees; or
•Saving the environment 6,987,226 pounds of CO2 per year.

To earn the ENERGY STAR, a home must meet strict guidelines for energy efficiency set by the EPA. These homes are at least 15 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRG), and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20-30 percent more efficient than standard homes.

“We’ve been building ENERGY STAR compliant homes for eight years now and energy savings continues to be a very successful benefit of owning an Ashton Woods home,” said John Reny, division president of Ashton Woods Homes in the Orlando region.

ENERGY STAR qualified homes offer homebuyers all the features they want in a new home, plus energy-saving features like effective insulation systems, high performance windows, tight construction and ducts, properly-sized and installed efficient heating and cooling equipment, efficient products, and third-party verification of energy performance. “Most homebuyers focus on what’s outside the walls,” said Sam Rashkin, national director for EPA’s ENERGY STAR Homes Program, “but they also need to look behind the walls for the energy-efficient features found in ENERGY STAR qualified homes that help ensure comfort, quiet, improved indoor air quality and low utility bills for years to come.”

About Ashton Woods Homes:

Ashton Woods Homes is a subsidiary of the Great Gulf Group – a fully-integrated collection of companies that spans the entire real estate spectrum in North America – from land acquisition and development to the design and construction of master-planned communities. For more information, visit www.ashtonwoodshomes.com/powerhouse. (770)998-9663.

About ENERGY STAR:

ENERGY STAR was introduced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 as a voluntary market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased energy efficiency. Today, ENERGY STAR offers businesses and consumers energy-efficient solutions to save energy, money and help protect the environment for future generations. More than 12,000 organizations are ENERGY STAR partners committed to improving the energy efficiency of products, homes, buildings and businesses. For more information about ENERGY STAR, visit http://www.energystar.gov/ or call toll-free 1-888-STAR-YES (1-888-782-7937).

Contact:

Michael Roche, VP Sales & Marketing Ashton Woods Homes-Orlando/Tampa, 407-647-3700; mroche@ashtonwoodshomes.com;

John Reny, President, Ashton Woods Homes-Orlando/Tampa 407-647-3700; jreny@ashtonwoodshomes.com;

Tad Serbin, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Ashton Woods Homes 770-998-9663;Tserbin@ashtonwoodshomes.com;

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142; lvershelco@aol.com

Entrust Administrative Services Posts Record Growth In March

Entrust Administrative Services Posts Record Growth In March

LAKE MARY, Fla. - Entrust Administrative Services, Inc., which administers more than 2,000 self-directed retirement funds worth more than $200 million from offices in Lake Mary, Boca Raton and Jacksonville, reported record growth in March.

Glen Mather, president of Entrust Administrative Services, said the company enrolled 61 new accounts in March worth an estimated $5 million.

Since Jan. 1, Entrust Administrative Services has enrolled 115 new accounts with an estimated value of $11 million.

“March ranks as our third best month since we opened our doors in 2003,” Mather said.

“Given current economic conditions, more people are taking control of their retirement accounts and making their own their investments,” Mather said. “We see this as an indication that American citizens are beginning to play a more important role in the direction of economic recovery,” Mather said.

For more information contact:

Glen Mather, President Entrust Administrative Services, Inc. 407-367-3472 gmather@entrustfl.com;

Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142 lvershelco@aol.com

Small Investors must Focus on Fundamentals in light of Financial Scandals, Economic Downturn, says Entrust Administrator

Small Investors must Focus on Fundamentals in light of Financial Scandals, Economic Downturn, says Entrust Administrator

LAKE MARY, Fla. - In light of epic financial scandals and a history-making economic downturn, small investors must take every precaution to protect their assets and that means a return to fundamentals, according to one of the most active small investment fund administrators in the U.S.

Glen Mather, president of Entrust Administration Services, LLC, which has offices in Lake Mary, Chicago, Boca Raton and Jacksonville and administers more than 2,000 self-directed retirement accounts worth more than $200 million, said small investors are already responding to the “perfect storm” of financial scandals and economic turmoil that have clouded the U.S. economic picture.

“I think we’re already seeing smarter money in the market,” said Mather. “While big fund managers worry about a new Mercedes or a vacation home in the Caribbean, small investors have their entire livelihoods at stake. They are more cautious, less trusting and more anxious about learning the facts than they were before the scandals, and that’s a good thing,” Mather said.

Entrust Administrative Services won’t offer investment advice, Mather said.
“We deal in facts and documentary evidence. We help private individuals take control of their own investments. And what we are seeing is that most individual investors adhere to market fundamentals and study their opportunities closely. The ones who don’t, usually invest in safer opportunities such as money markets or certificates of deposit.”

“But almost all of them know you can’t just trust the investment funds blindly,” Mather said.

Mather recently spoke at the Crisis in the Financial Markets breakfast panel discussion sponsored by the Miami Finance Forum in Miami. More than 150 top CPAs, lawyers and corporate officials attended the event.

For more information, contact:,br>Glen Mather, President Entrust Administrative Services, Inc. 407-367-3472 gmather@entrustfl.com
Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142 lvershelco@aol.com

Entrust Administrative Services Chief Executive Officer Glen Mather tells Miami Finance Forum to Stick to the Fundamentals

Entrust Administrative Services Chief Executive Officer Glen Mather tells Miami Finance Forum to Stick to the Fundamentals

LAKE MARY, Fla. – Entrust Administrative Services president Glen Mather recently told the Miami Finance Forum that most small investors have learned that financial scandals and a general economic downturn have put more emphasis on individual control of investment decisions and a return to fundamental investment principals.

The recent Miami Finance Forum discussion topic---Crisis in the Financial Markets, How to Protect Yourself and Your Company in a TARP and Post-Madoff World---invited four panelists, including Mather, to offer their perspectives on financial strategies.

The breakfast session, which was open to Miami Finance Forum members and guests, focused on how corporate money managers are dealing with the recession.

Mather, whose offices in Lake Mary, Boca Raton, Chicago and Jacksonville administer more than 2,000 self-directed retirement accounts with assets worth more than $200 million, said he is already seeing a change in the markets.

“Individual investors have learned that you can’t just trust funds managers,” Mather said. “They are studying their investment opportunities closely, and they are following the fundamentals. They are taking control, and they are smart enough to know they have to learn their way around investment strategies before they take a position,” he said.

Mather said small individual investors want documentary evidence from investment managers.

“These investors want to know track records, their manager’s ability to report, how they are regulated how they are managed and how they protect investors assets,” Mather said. “They aren’t interested in blindly trusting money managers,” he explained.

For more information, contact:
Glen Mather, President Entrust Administrative Services, Inc. 407-367-3472 gmather@entrustfl.com;
Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142 lvershelco@aol.com