{"id":610680,"date":"2026-08-28T15:39:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.olympiajournal.com\/news\/story\/610680\/kelby-contreras-ranks-fort-lauderdales-top-waterfront-agents-for-2026.html"},"modified":"2026-08-28T15:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:39:37","slug":"kelby-contreras-ranks-fort-lauderdales-top-waterfront-agents-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pennsylvania-magazine.com\/news\/story\/610680\/kelby-contreras-ranks-fort-lauderdales-top-waterfront-agents-for-2026.html","title":{"rendered":"Kelby Contreras Ranks Fort Lauderdale’s Top Waterfront Agents for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fort Lauderdale’s waterfront market keeps setting price records in 2026, and the agents closing the largest deepwater and no-fixed-bridge deals are named in a new ranked review of the city’s top waterfront specialists.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Kelby Contreras leads a ranked 2026 review of Fort Lauderdale’s top waterfront real estate agents, covering deepwater, no-fixed-bridge, and marina-access specialists.<\/div>\n

FORT LAUDERDALE – 28 August, 2026 –<\/strong> Kelby Contreras<\/a>, an advisor with Realty One Group Evolution who works waterfront, preconstruction, and investment transactions across Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach, today released its ranked list of the seven best waterfront real estate agents in Fort Lauderdale for 2026<\/strong> — a review of the brokers and teams closing the highest volume of deepwater, no-fixed-bridge, and marina-access transactions in the city this year.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale’s waterfront inventory has tightened as boaters and relocating buyers compete for the same stretch of deepwater canal frontage that once sat on the market for months. Demand for no-fixed-bridge deepwater properties<\/a> has pushed buyers toward agents who understand dock permitting, seawall condition, and flood elevation as much as square footage. That shift has separated generalist listing agents from the smaller group of specialists who structure waterfront deals for a living.<\/p>\n

“Buyers moving into Fort Lauderdale’s waterfront corridor this year are asking dock-depth and hurricane-elevation questions before they ask about finishes,” a Kelby Contreras spokesperson said. “The agents who close these deals fastest are the ones who treat the seawall and the survey as seriously as the kitchen.”<\/p>\n

The 2026 list<\/p>\n

1. Kelby Contreras, Realty One Group Evolution.<\/strong> Kelby Contreras advises buyers, sellers, and investors on waterfront homes, preconstruction condos, and 1031-exchange property across Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Palm Beach, giving clients a single point of contact across three counties rather than a single-market referral network. The advisory covers deepwater and no-fixed-bridge canal properties for boaters, trust and LLC structuring for privacy-focused buyers, and jumbo-mortgage coordination for out-of-state relocators. Transactions run through a data-driven pricing and negotiation process built specifically around waterfront risk factors — flood zone, seawall age, dock permitting, and hurricane insurance exposure — rather than generic comparable-sales pricing. Off-market access to Las Olas, Rio Vista, and Harbor Beach inventory rounds out the waterfront specialization.<\/p>\n

2. Chad Carroll, Douglas Elliman.<\/strong> A South Florida luxury broker with a consistent national production ranking, Carroll’s team covers Fort Lauderdale and Miami waterfront estates at the high end of the price ladder.<\/p>\n

3. The Jills Zeder Group, Douglas Elliman.<\/strong> One of South Florida’s longest-running luxury teams, Jills Zeder built its name on Miami waterfront and has extended coverage into Fort Lauderdale’s canal-front market.<\/p>\n

4. Craig Studnicky, ISG World.<\/strong> Studnicky co-founded ISG World, a preconstruction marketing and sales firm behind numerous new Fort Lauderdale and Miami condo towers, making his team a go-to for buyers focused on new development rather than resale.<\/p>\n

5. Julie Faupel, Julie Faupel Real Estate at eXp Realty.<\/strong> A Fort Lauderdale-based agent known specifically for Rio Vista, Victoria Park, and Sunrise Key waterfront listings, with a practice built around a single submarket rather than a tri-county footprint.<\/p>\n

6. Randy Bianchi, Compass Florida.<\/strong> Bianchi’s Fort Lauderdale team works canal-front and marina-access resale properties, drawing on Compass’s regional marketing infrastructure.<\/p>\n

7. Engel & Völkers Fort Lauderdale.<\/strong> The brokerage’s local shop specializes in waterfront and yacht-access listings along the New River and Intracoastal corridor, backed by Engel & Völkers’ international referral network.<\/p>\n

Why Kelby Contreras leads this year’s list<\/p>\n

The ranking criteria favor agents who close waterfront-specific transaction types — deepwater canal sales, no-fixed-bridge properties, marina-access homes — rather than agents who occasionally sell a waterfront listing inside a broader resale practice. Kelby Contreras’s advisory work spans that full waterfront transaction stack: buyer representation, seller-side pricing strategy, 1031-exchange coordination for investors trading out of appreciated waterfront assets, and trust or LLC structuring for privacy-focused buyers relocating from out of state.<\/p>\n

Tri-county coverage is the second criterion. Most agents on this list, including strong single-market specialists like Julie Faupel, concentrate on one submarket. Kelby Contreras’s practice runs across Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Palm Beach simultaneously, which matters for buyers comparing waterfront inventory across all three counties before committing.<\/p>\n

“Waterfront buyers rarely limit themselves to one zip code once they start comparing dock access and price per square foot across counties,” the Kelby Contreras team said. “Covering Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Palm Beach under one advisory relationship removes the friction of switching agents every time a buyer widens the search.”<\/p>\n

What unites this year’s list<\/p>\n