The condo boom moves on to Latin America
What to do when you have a network of real-estate brokers selling new condominiums, but few new condos to sell?
Edgardo Defortuna, who has made millions selling South Florida condos, hopes one answer is found on the Pacific shores of Mexico.
Defortuna, who heads Fortune International, last year agreed to start selling condo units built by Miami’s Related Group in Puerto Vallarta. It’s part of a plan that he and Related CEO Jorge Perez hope will ultimately include more than a half dozen projects across Latin America and the Caribbean — and provide a fruitful market until South Florida’s formerly hot housing industry recovers from its cold snap.
At a time when starts for residential projects are slowing to a trickle from West Palm Beach to Homestead, those who sell new housing like DeFortuna’s Brickell Avenue company are having to strike out for new markets.
They are following different trails. International Sales Group in Aventura started marketing a project in New Orleans last year, attempting to take advantage of a lack of housing after Katrina. Prodigy Network in Miami moved its headquarters to New York City to better focus on its projects there, while also pushing units in places like Mexico and Panama.