Six Palm Beach Realtors sold enough real estate last year to earn them spots on the latest Top 250 list prepared as part of a Wall Street Journal special advertising section published Friday.
The national rankings — based on 2015 residential sales information submitted by agents or their firms — were compiled by Denver-based Real Trends, which co-sponsored the project with the Journal. Only agents and companies who elected to participate and paid a $50 entry fee were ranked in the national survey.
All of the Palm Beach-based Realtors on the list except one are perennials, having appeared on previous versions but in different spots.
Coming in at No. 20, independent broker Christian J. Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate took the highest spot among the local names with a reported sales volume of $210.24 million. Only one Florida-based Realtor — in Naples — ranked higher, by two spots.
Others ranked
Next up was No. 32-ranked Paulette Koch of the Corcoran Group, with a reported sales volume of $174.42 million. In last year’s rankings, she earned the top spot among Palm Beach Realtors on the list at No. 21, with a reported sales volume of $233.55 million, followed by Angle at No. 26, with $219.11 million. Koch often shares listings with her son, Corcoran agent Dana Koch.
Agent Jim McCann of the Corcoran Group took the No. 40 spot on the latest list with $163.08 million, climbing from his 85th spot last year, when he reported $118.18 million in sales volume.
Carol Sollak, a principal and agent with the island franchise of Engel & Volkers, moved up one spot on the list. Specializing in Wellington sales, she ranked No. 57 with $141.52 million versus her 58th rank last year with $148.17 million.
Agent Cristina Condon of Sotheby’s International Realty took the 134th spot with $95.46 million, having been ranked 43rd on last year’s list with $170.63 million.
A new name rounds out locals on the list – independent broker Stephen Hall of Hall Real Estate. He wasn’t on the previous list but came in 137th this year, reporting a 2015 sales volume of $94.59 million.
Among the 29 Florida agents who made the sales-volume list, Angle was ranked No. 2, Koch No. 3, McCann No. 6, Sollak No. 9, Condon No. 14 and Hall No. 15.
In addition, Condon’s name appears on another list in the survey, ranking in the 50 U.S. agents with the highest average sales prices. With an average transaction of $10.6 million, Condon ranked No. 38, the only Palm Beach agent on that list. Agent Jilly Camissa of Premier Estate Properties in Delray Beach came in No. 28.
Among the Palm Beach Realtors who didn’t participate in the survey was high-dollar broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates in Palm Beach.
Moens declined to provide the Daily News any specific sales figures for 2015. But the Daily News has confirmed he took part in nine of the 21 single-family properties that sold last year for $10 million or more in Palm Beach, according to the prices recorded by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office. Moens represented either the seller, the buyer or both in those deals, which totaled about $231 million — and that figure doesn’t include single-family deals recorded at less than $10 million or condominium sales, including those outside Palm Beach. The single-family transactions included the $71.2 million sale of landmarked Casa Apava, the island’s highest-dollar transaction of 2015.
Under the rules of the survey, real estate agents who handle both sides of a transaction are allowed to double the final dollar figure when they figure their total sales volume. Moens represented both buyer and seller in six of the nine aforementioned single-family deals, so those transactions would add another $163 million to his total.
Moens said he doesn’t take part “in these kind of (ranking) programs, but my numbers speak for themselves.”
Also on the list
Other Palm Beach County agents on the latest sales-volume list include David Roberts of Royal Palm Properties in Boca Raton (No. 36 with $172.73 million), Candace Friis of Corcoran’s Delray Beach office (No. 110 with $105.45 million) and Pascal Liguori of Premier Estate Properties in Delray Beach (No. 180 with $81.19 million).
In the No. 1 position once again was Ben Cabalerro of HomesUSA.com in Addison, Texas, who broke the $1 billion sales-volume barrier with a total of $1.02 billion, compared to his reported $924.25 million for 2014 sales. Cabalerro has taken the top spot for at least the last two years.
Agencies, agents and brokers who participated in the rankings furnished Real Trends with data about their transactions and paid the entry fee to be considered, according to the company.
Participants were solicited nationwide but also could request an application. Sales data must have been verified by at least one independent source, including tax forms furnished by the agent, said Real Trends President Steve Murray. The data submitted was reviewed by Real Trends staff for accuracy, Murray said.
The complete rankings are available at RealTrends.com.
