One Sotheby’s snags top Vero Beach team as part of Florida expansion

One Sotheby’s International Realty is continuing its expansion up Florida’s east coast, The Real Deal has learned.

The O’Dare Boga Group, a Vero Beach team with Premier Estate Properties, left the brokerage to join Miami-based One Sotheby’s, led by Mayi and Daniel de la Vega, de la Vega said. The group was involved in sales totaling nearly $300 million last year.

Cindy O’Dare, Richard Boga and Kristin Dobson are making the move after 15 years with Premier Estate Properties. Recruiting the O’Dare Boga Group is part of a larger expansion strategy for One Sotheby’s, which plans to open an office in North Vero Beach, said Daniel de la Vega, president of the brokerage.

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Other firms have been expanding into Vero Beach, which O’Dare compared to the “Hamptons” of Florida, including Douglas Elliman.

“We were approached by several other companies, but we didn’t seriously consider anybody else,” O’Dare said.

O’Dare’s daughter, Lily O’Dare, a One Sotheby’s agent, started her real estate career at the firm and will join her mother’s team. That also contributed to their decision to join One Sotheby’s.

De la Vega expects that the luxury market in Vero Beach will remain strong. Home values have jumped more than 40 percent in the last year, according to Zillow. Similar to what’s been happening in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, buyers have been migrating from the Northeast and Midwest.

“Vero Beach is not a quiet retirement community anymore,” de la Vega said.

According to O’Dare and Boga, the buyer demographic has gotten younger over the years.

Higher prices in South Florida are also pushing buyers north to Vero Beach, where there is more value, the agents and de la Vega said.

One Sotheby’s has been following that migration, as well. It took over First Coast Sotheby’s International Realty in Jacksonville at the start of the year, one of eight recent acquisitions for the firm as it expands across the state.