(Crystal Proenza is associate editor of Real EstateFlorida.)

MIAMI-Condo.com, an online marketplace that lists over 600,000 condos, has formed a financial institution brokerage and marketing division in an effort to assist lenders with asset management and dispositions. The site will reach out to institutional owners and lenders through its new institutional services group led by James L. Fried, president of Miami-based Sandstone Realty Advisors.

Fried has been in the real estate business since the mid-1980s, and in the past has worked in South Florida as managing director for Aztec Group Inc. and senior VP for Grubb & Ellis of Florida Inc. During the last down cycle, Fried served as principal of Condovest/Realtrust Inc., where he gained experience with government and financial institutions that he will use in his new position, he tells GlobeSt.com.

"From 1991-93, Condovest bought, managed and brokered portfolios of condos from the RTC, FDIC and solvent financial institutions," said Richard Swerdlow, CEO of Condo.com, in a release. "Jim is well versed in all phases of the special situations that occur as a property begins to fail and is eventually taken over by the lender(s)."