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KEY LARGO, FL—Engel & Völkers continues its expansion in the Florida Keys with Engel & Völkers Islamorada. Local market expert John Gallant will lead the brokerage as license partner and broker. Gallant formerly owned Blue 9 Realty, Inc. which has now converted to Engel & Völkers. The shop is located at 90773 Old Highway, Suite 5, Tavernier. A grand opening is planned for Feb. 22 to allow the community to tour the new space and meet their team.

Gallant comes to Engel & Völkers with nearly 10 years of industry experience. While he owned Blue 9 Realty Inc., Gallant facilitated the opening of three new locations; Tavernier, West Palm Beach and Cartagena, Columbia. Gallant is also the founder of Florida Keys Business Brokers, Treasurer of The Upper Keys Rotary Club and is a strong advocate for communities throughout the Florida Keys.

"Expansion is our main focus at Engel & Völkers Florida right now," Engel & Völkers spokesperson Linzee Werkmeister tells GlobeSt.com. "We are very fortunate that our existing license partners are successfully growing or stable in their individual markets, so that allows us to support them as needed and focus on growing our network through franchise expansion. The bigger the company gets, the more credibility they build locally. We see a lot of opportunity for expansion in the Florida Panhandle (Pensacola, Panama City and Tallahassee), West Central Florida (Sarasota and greater Tampa), North Florida (Gainesville and Ocala), and along the east coast of Florida (Palm Coast, Daytona Beach, Vero Beach, Miami)."

Islamorada, named after early Spanish explorers, consists of a village of six islands, offering an abundance of waterfront properties. With some of the best fishing and diving in the United States, Islamorada has been named the "Sportfishing Capital of the World" and flourishes through its popular tourism industry.

"The Florida Keys are an especially unique market," said Gallant. "Our real estate industry is driven by wealth, with many properties being a second, third or even fourth residence for some owners. As a result, affordable housing is a concern shared by almost everyone on the islands. Investors have profited on abundant rental opportunities, especially vacation rentals. Our rental market is slightly softer than usual right now, and landlords are increasingly turning to real estate agents and the MLS to find good tenants. For nearly the last decade, the only difficulty in filling vacant rentals was fielding four calls per hour, although that is no longer the case. On the sale side, inventory has been moving faster than usual lately, and I believe that reduction in days on market is directly correlated to an increase in price reductions."

Werkmeister says more expansion in the Keys is likely. "We are open to the idea of John Gallant expanding his existing territory or perhaps finding another strong local partner," she says. "For now, we are excited to help him settle in and be successful with the brand in Islamorada, but you never know what the future holds."

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