Nov 04, 2004

John L. Scott Real Estate

John L. Scott Chairman and CEO J. Lennox Scott says last month was the best October in the company's 73-year history. He attributes the success to low interest rates and an improving economy. Bainbridge Island agents Marnie Arlen and Jim Valentine have earned the Accredited Buyer's Representative designation from the National Association of Realtors. Arlen also earned the Real Estate Institute's Graduate Realtors Institute designation. Peter J. Mills and Dorothy Natterstad are new agents at the company's Lynnwood West office.

Windermere Real Estate

Yvonne M. Svasand is a new agent at Windermere's Ballard office. Jayne Judd and Linus Toy are new agents at the Mercer Island office.

CB Richard Ellis

Jon Hallgrimson of CB Richard Ellis brokered two apartment deals. Essex Property Trust of Palo Alto, Calif., bought the 194-unit Fairwood Pond in Renton for $21 million from LaSalle. LaSalle bought the 7-year-old property four years ago for $17.55 million. Hallgrimson says Essex has targeted Seattle as the West Coast market that will have the strongest rent growth. In Bellevue's Crossroads neighborhood, Forest City sold the 396-unit Colony Woods to Fairfield for $32.5 million. Forest City bought the property seven years ago for $15.45 million and invested approximately $10 million in renovations. About 70 percent of the complex's residents work at Microsoft, according to Hallgrimson. He expects more big apartment sales soon because Seattle "certainly has been discovered."

MILA Inc.

Wholesale mortgage banking company MILA Inc. was named Customer Service Business of the Year in the large business category by the Better Business Bureau of Western Washington. Mountlake Terrace-based MILA officials say their brokers are given control to expedite the loan process.

Merit Inc.

Merit Inc., which offers mortgage and residential real estate services, has opened an office at Corporate Campus East, 3009 112th Ave. N.E., Bellevue. Cushman & Wakefield negotiated the lease. The 7,000-square-foot space houses 18 agents and 10 loan officers, and has room to accommodate projected growth.

NAIOP

The National Association for Industrial and Office Properties completed its annual community enhancement project last month. More than 150 members and their families worked on landscaping and building projects at the Ruth Dykeman Children's Center in Burien. The center helps families with special needs, including emotionally/behaviorally impaired children. NAIOP members provided $50,000 worth of in-kind donations, including 154 tons of gravel, 75 cubic yards of bark mulch and 60 cubic yards of topsoil.

Seattle Mortgage Bankers Association

"Back to Reality: The Keys to Surviving in Today's Marketplace" is the topic of the Seattle Mortgage Bankers Association's 5 p.m. Nov. 16 dinner meeting at Broadmoor Golf Club, 2340 Broadmoor Drive E., Seattle. Speakers are Debbie Steck of Golf Savings Bank, Brad Evered of Coulombe & Evered, Steven Marshall of Bellevue Mutual Mortgage and Jeff Tisdale of Sky Mortgage. Cost is $35 for prepaid tickets, $40 at the door and $45 for nonmembers. Send payment to Deanna Powell, Stewart Title, 40 Lake Bellevue Drive, Suite 200, Bellevue, WA 98005. For more information, call Powell at (206) 770-8700 or write dpowell@stewart.com.

Nov 03, 2004

Dykeman

Scott Schreffler joined Dykeman as an intern architect. Schreffler has worked on green design for family townhomes, senior apartments and mixed-use developments. He was in the Eco-Building Guild and has been a steering committee member of Seattle AIA's committee on the environment.