BOCA RATON, FL-Izzy Ashkenazy and Jonathan Agus, the team that recently acquired five multifamily properties in Florida for condo-conversion, has formed CondoMax USA, a venture designed to take condo-conversion nationwide and target for-sale units to people who cannot otherwise afford homeownership. The partners' portfolio, acquired by their previous company, Ashkenazy & Agus Ventures LLC, now contains an aggregate of 1,412 residential units.

Units in those properties will sell for between $129,000 and $219,000, Agus tells GlobeSt.com. "Our real strategy, though, is to acquire properties with units we can sell for between $99,000 and $149,000. There's a void in that market, even when and if the housing market softens. While prices are dropping in Palm Beach County," he says, "the average price is still about $400,000, unaffordable to many."

Florida will remain an area of acquisition for CondoMax, he says, because of its continuing population growth and dire need for affordable housing. Other targets are Arizona, Nevada, "the Northeast when opportunities come about," and possibly Texas and California. "Our sweet spot is B and C properties in A locations, where we can add cosmetic and esthetic upgrades and still meet our pricing objectives."

The five Florida properties are: 410-unit Meadows on the Green, formerly Lincoln Meadows, in Boynton Beach; 238-unit Sunset Lakes, formerly Courtney Place, in Orlando; 232-unit Sunset Isles, formerly Courtney Village, in Royal Palm Beach; 238-unit the Fountains, formerly Toscana, in Orlando; and 294-unit Villas at Lakeside, formerly Summer Club, in Oviedo.