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Ana Ordonez saw a trend toward South American real
estate investment in South Florida in the mid-1980s and decided to get
in on the action by establishing a realty company specializing in
international transactions.
Ordonez, who had worked for Miami's Keyes Co. for four
years, saw the burgeoning market of foreign investors coming to South
Florida and started ACOL Realty in 1984, a company name she derived
from the initials of here her 10-year-old daughter's name, Ana
Cristina Ordonez Lara.
"I figured she would give us good luck,"
Ordonez recalled with a smile. "And, she certainly has so
far."
Ordonez was born in El Salvador and came to the United States in 1962.
She immediately enrolled in a commercial college, then worked and
studied at the University of Miami. After a stint with Eastern
Airlines in its flight operations department, she quit work to start a
family, then later decided to pursue a real estate career and landed
the job with Keyes.
"I did a lot of commercial real estate work when
I was with Keyes," she said. "And, I worked a lot with
foreign buyers."
Being an entrepreneur at heart, she decided to leave
Keyes and start her own real estate firm, concentrating on
international commercial real estate. Her first big break came when
she sold a warehouse complex west of Miami International Airport that
she had managed for 5 years.
"I sold it at a handsome profit for the owners
and it gave me great experience," she said. "But, it also
gave me the start of a client stream as one of the owners decided to
buy a hotel and asked me to help."
Ordonez took courses to become a Certified International Property
Specialist and was one of the first 300 people in the world to gain
the certification.
"It has helped me a lot," she said. "It
opened some doors in the industry for me."
Most of ACOL's international clients come from South
America, but Ordonez is quick to point out that she has local clients,
too, and that she also deals in residential real estate.
"When I do residential, I specialize only in the
areas of Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay," she said. "Commercial
real estate I do everywhere in Dade County and everywhere in
Florida." Ordonez says customer service is the hallmark of
her company.
"I specialize in giving service and I am
committed to give service to produce results for my clients," she
said. "I work with them as a team. When a customer comes to me, I
make sure they are satisfied. I dedicate a lot of time to them and I
help them from step one to the end of the transaction. I don't leave
them hanging, for example, when they are going to their closing.
"And, most of my clients are my friends,"
she continued. "And, my friends have become clients."
ACOL Realty is located at 15321 So.Dixie Highway.
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