Feb 25, 2000

Quadrant

Quadrant has promoted project managers Kristin Jensen, Jeff Roberts and Mark Rowe to senior project managers for the company's commercial division.

Jensen's most recent work for Quadrant includes managing a variety of projects, such as buildings for Capital One and Weyerhaeuser, at East Campus Corporate Park in Federal Way. She also has managed tenant improvement design, permitting and construction at Quadrant Lake Union Center in Seattle as well as feasibility work and sales and leasing support on several other Quadrant sites.

Roberts recently worked on building and tenant improvements at Quadrant Monte Villa Center in Bothell, and he has worked on projects at Quadrant's West Campus Business Park in Federal Way and at the company's Auburn Retail sites. He managed East Campus Corporate Park buildings for Weyerhaeuser and Safeco as well as other tenant improvements and public/private infrastructure work. Now he will focus his efforts on Quadrant Lake Union Center.

Rowe has worked at Quadrant I-5 Corporate Park in South Snohomish County, Quadrant Willows Corporate Center in Redmond and Quadrant Lake Union Center. He serves as project manager for Quadrant's Auburn Retail site and will continue his support of leasing and sales efforts at each of these projects.

Insignia/ESG

Insignia/ESG, a national commercial real estate services company that recently entered the Puget Sound-area market, has a new logo that the company says will enhance its name recognition.The logo consists of an "i" within a blue box that precedes the company's name. A company official says that in the Northwest the new identity "assures clients that they are being served by a world-class organization that is on the leading edge of the future of commercial real estate services -- one in which technology will play an increasing role."

ReMax

Two of the area's top producing teams -- Dustin Remington and buyer's agent Carmen Crispeno; and Steve and Meriam Knoblaugh and buyer's agent William Baker -- have joined Re/Max Canyon Park. Both teams rank in the top 1 percent of real estate practitioners nationwide. Also new at Re/Max Canyon Park are Caroline Michael, Karen Young, Alexis Heng and Todd Young, all formerly of Home Realty Inc.; and Steve Hillier and Dan Trent.

Online Real Estate Association

Dozens of companies have formed the Online Real Estate Association, which says it will improve "the consumer experience" and develop more protections for both customers and realtors. The coalition says it will share common practices and work to bring online real estate to "new levels of customer focus and satisfaction." The association includes Microsoft, Intuit's Quicken Loans, HomeGain, ImroveNet, Inman News Features and John L. Scott Real Estate.

In the past year, the online real estate industry has exploded, with the number of Web sites catering to both consumers and real estate professionals more than tripling in number. With hundreds of real estate sites operating on national and regional levels, the association says it will establish new standards of professionalism and performance for everyone associated with real estate on the Web.

John L. Scott

John L. Scott Real Estate's Internet Listing Demonstration has been nominated as a finalist for an Inman Innovator Award in the category of Best Innovation by an Off-line Company. Last year the Bellevue-based company added a feature that allows its agents to put a listing on the Internet as quickly as one minute after the listing has been signed.

Windermere

Windermere Real Estate has launched Neighborhood Trends, an online tracking system that provides visitors to www.windermere.com with residential market data extracted from various multiple listing services throughout the Northwest. It provides a snapshot look at categories, such as average sales price, number of homes sold, market time and median price, over the past two years. To access the system, click on the Neighborhood Trends button on the home page. The features provides data about major metropolitan markets in Western Washington, Spokane and Portland.

Microsoft

Microsoft has unveiled Realty Desktop, which the company says is the first completely Web-based customer management and transaction service designed to help real estate brokers create "customers for life through the flexibility and power of the Web," according to the company. Realty Desktop lets brokers deliver" a high standard of customer service from the point of first contact, enabling them to respond quickly to customer needs and inquiries," a Microsoft press release states.

BeCentric

InterActiveVisit.com of Bellevue has changed its name to BeCentric, and company officials say they have a new business strategy as well as a new partnership with commercial real estate brokerage Marcus & Millichap. Marcus & Millichap will invest in BeCentric and license its technology; the press release did not list the amount of Marcus & Millichap's investment.

BeCentric, which is the parent company of the online listing tool Onlinevisit, says it provides "leading-edge technology applications and outsourced information technology services to help residential and commercial real estate companies expand their prominence and business by becoming relationship-centric advisers."

The company's new technology will let brokerage companies create an electronic link to home buyers, sellers and owners with individually created "micro-portal Web sites for each consumer," according to the press release.

Seattle Mortgage

Seattle Mortgage's Mercer Island branch has been working with some Puget Sound-area credit unions to offer their members mortgage services. The program features local control of the mortgage process, from underwriting and finding an investor to servicing and escrow. Among the participants are credit unions, such as Seattle Telco, Qualstar, Telco Community, Fort Lewis and Harborstone. This year Seattle Mortgage plans to include 20 to 30 credit unions in the program.

HMB Capital Co.

HMB Capital of Mill Creek has appointed R.P. (Bob) Byrd as senior vice president. Byrd, who has more than 25 years of experience in the real estate loan industry, came to HMB in 1996. He will continue with his current commercial lending responsibilities, assist with special projects and play a leading role in launching HMB's new millennium marketing plan.