Dec 23, 2005

Washington Mutual

Washington Mutual will align its single-family residential mortgage lending operations under one management team to streamline operations and improve service. Management of Long Beach Mortgage Co., the company's subprime lending business, and Mortgage Banker Finance, warehouse lending, will move from the Commercial Group to David Schneider, president of the Home Loans group. The balance of the Commercial Group, including multifamily lending, will report to Al Brooks. Craig Chapman, president of the Commercial Group, will leave the company Jan. 31, 2006.

Dec 22, 2005

First American Title Insurance

Lance J. Grob of Lynnwood is First American Title Insurance Co.'s emerging market director for the Northwest. Initially he'll work on reaching minority and low- to moderate-income homebuyers. First American's Emerging Markets Program was launched in 2003. Grob helped establish a real estate company's first bilingual office.

GMAC Commercial Mortgage

GMAC Commercial Mortgage arranged $20.3 million in permanent, fixed-rate refinancing for Town Plaza, a 172,000-square-foot office building in Vancouver. GMAC Senior Vice President Joe Kimm of the Seattle office arranged the transaction through Artesia Mortgage for Tower Mall LLC.

John L. Scott Real Estate

Realtor Carolyn Heckman has joined the Bellevue North office of John L. Scott. New sales associates are Freddie Dixon and Ricky Mouw at the Highlands office; Brian Thayer, University Place; Jennifer Storm and Ray Bridges, Port Orchard; Caroline Urbina, Laurelhurst; Sondra Jackson and Belinda Leppa, Bellevue Downtown; Linda Purcell, Poulsbo; Kari Ewing, Vancouver East; Gene Wammer, Sammamish; Anna Dyrlaga, Federal Way; Cori Whitaker, Lynnwood Center; and Brent Comstock, Redmond.

CREW

Commercial Real Estate Women's 11:30 a.m. Jan. 12 lunch at the Washington Athletic Club, 1325 Sixth Ave., will feature a panel discussion about mixed-use development and what it means for downtown Seattle. Panelists are Kate Joncas, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, architect and developer Jim Mueller, Mike Scott of Callison Architecture and lawyer Jack McCullough of McCullough Hill. Cost is $35 for CREW members and $50 for others. Register by noon Jan. 9 at crewseattle.org or (206) 417-5580.

Dec 15, 2005

Egis Certified

Egis Certified, a division of Seattle-based Egis Real Estate Services and provider of LEED project management and other LEED services, has won some Seattle contracts. It is doing LEED-core and shell and building commissioning for Vulcan Inc.'s Alley24 East and LEED-new construction for Alley24 West. Alley24 East is the commercial portion of the South Lake Union project, and Alley24 West is the condo portion. Also, Egis Certified is doing LEED-commercial interiors for the new offices of Skanska USA and NBBJ; both are moving to Alley24 East. Egis Certified specializes in maximizing LEED points for developers. LEED is the U.S. Green Building Council's rating system.

Wolfgang Rood Hospitality Consulting

Hotel markets across the state had a mixed October, according to Wolfgang Rood Hospitality Consulting in Bellevue. Statewide, occupancies decreased half a point to just under 71 percent, while average daily room rates increased 5 percent to $110. Downtown Seattle's occupancy rate was down slightly to 79 percent, with average daily room rates jumping almost $7 to $145. Snohomish County's occupancy rate was down nearly eight points to 72 percent; average daily rates climbed 9 percent to $82. The Eastside saw its average rate increase 8 percent to $125, and the occupancy rate climbed almost a point to 71 percent. Pierce County saw its average room rate increase 3 percent to $80; the occupancy rate fell 1.5 points to 65 percent.

CREW

Daryl Savidis of Chicago Title is the Seattle chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women's Member of the Year, and Jennifer Porter of First American Title is the chapter's Committee Chairwoman of the Year. Porter headed the meeting sponsorship committee.

SKCAR

The Seattle-King County Association of Realtors named Dan Murphy Realtor of the Year. Murphy is with the Windermere Fauntleroy office in West Seattle and is the group's outgoing president. D'Ann Jackson of the John L. Scott Mercer Island won the Realtor Achievement Award. Kathi Swarthout of Executive Real Estate in Bellevue is Government Affairs Volunteer of the Year. SKCAR presented Realtor Community Service Awards to: Pam McCain of John L. Scott, Kent; Darryl Smith of Windermere, Mount Baker in Seattle; Darrin Stumpf of John L. Scott, North Seattle; Delna Vermillion of Towne or Country WA Real Estate, Seattle; and Petra Walker of John L. Scott, Mercer Island. Jason Watabe of Windermere Bellevue West won the Cultural Diversity Award, Deanna Morgan of Fidelity National Title in Bellevue won Affiliate of the Year, and Larry Christensen of Re/Max Performance Plus in Renton won SKCAR's first Instructor of the Year Award. The group's 2006 officers are Jackson, president; Daniel Kennedy of Coldwell Banker Bain in Seattle, 2007 president-elect; Christensen, vice president of Business Practices; Beverly Read of Windermere in Lake Forest Park, vice president of Governmental Affairs; and Keith Nelson, Executive Real Estate in Bellevue, vice president-elect of Governmental & Public Affairs.