BUSINESS BRIEFS
People's First employees honored

Toop

Larry Pursell, a residential loan officer with Peoples First Community Bank in Pensacola, has received the Florida Housing Finance Corporation's award for superior performance for his work with the Florida Bond Program in 2005.

Chandra Toop, who is with Peoples First in Gulf Breeze, received an honorable mention award.

The awards were presented recently at the Florida Housing annual conference in Tallahassee.

Peoples First was recognized as the financial institution that originated the most bond loans in program year 2005. The bank also ranked among the top five financial institutions in overall performance for program years 2005 and 2006.

Florida Housing was created by the state legislature more than 20 years ago to help state residents obtain safe, decent housing that might otherwise be unavailable to them. The organization is committed to increasing affordable housing opportunities for Floridians through programs including the First Time Homebuyer Program.

Peoples First, headquartered in Panama City, has 33 banking centers statewide and assets exceeding $1.75 billion.

Coldwell Banker merges

Coldwell Banker United Realtors has announced the acquisition of Coldwell Banker JME Realty. The combined companies have 77 offices and more than 2,400 agents in six states; connecting Texas to the Carolinas, and spanning the entire Gulf Coast region.

JME Realty is located in Northwest Florida, Southern Alabama, and Mississippi and has 10 residential and two commercial offices. The company has been serving the Gulf Coast since 1984.