Moses Lake real estate office gains new affiliation

by Matthew Weaver<br>Herald Senior Staff Writer
| May 11, 2007 9:00 PM

Tomlinson Black benefits from Coldwell Banker network

MOSES LAKE — A longtime Moses Lake real estate company maintains its regional connections even as a new affiliation offers it name recognition on a wider scale.

Signs changed outside the former Tomlinson Black Ranch and Home, located at 1000 S. Pioneer Way, Thursday morning.

The new signs read Coldwell Banker Tomlinson Ranch and Home.

The change follows an announcement in March of the Realogy Franchise Group entering into three long-term franchising agreements with Washington- and Idaho-based independent real estate brokerage firm Tomlinson Black Group of Companies.

The agreements allow Tomlinson Black to affiliate eight of its offices with the Coldwell Banker, Coldwell Banker Commercial and Sotheby's International Realty real estate brands.

Under the agreements, five offices operate as Coldwell Banker Tomlinson Black, in Moses Lake and Cheney, and in Moscow, Lewiston and Coeur d'Alene in Idaho.

Tomlinson Black Northwest President Fred Meyer and Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation Executive Business Consultant John Musgrave were in Moses Lake Wednesday on the eve of the change.

"The deal we made literally is five years in the making," Meyer said. "Our ultimate desire was frankly to be able to have the same options they have, which is to have five brands available to us, allowing us to pick the brand most appropriate to the market we were in."

In the Moses Lake area market, Coldwell Banker is the best fit, Meyer said.

"Coldwell Banker really has done a terrific job of creating an image and an idea of a company that's got quality in every aspect — good agents, good leadership and good tools," he said.

The Tomlinson Black goal was to create a regional franchise 12 years ago, but Meyer said the company kept running into national brands as it tried to create its regionally-based network. While the national brand is important, he said the vast majority of referrals and the like going back and forth between real estate companies take place on a regional basis.

Meyer said Tomlinson Black had linked into a network on the West Side, but it was not nearly as powerful as the link the company now has with Coldwell Banker.

"We get the best of both worlds," he said. "We get the benefit of the incredible network Coldwell Banker has created and the regional network we have created, and the ability to really fill that network in a variety of cities."

Meyer hopes to spread out to cover most of Eastern Washington, all of Idaho and into Western Montana.

The change means more consistency from office to office and market to market, he added, comparing the office to a national fast food chain.

"It will really help us standardize some things," he said. "We're a service industry here, and the more we can make the service a real, true, marketable and repeatable experience for our customer, so they don't just get good service, they get memorable service."

Meyer's goal was to double the size of the Tomlinson Black company in five years, but after several months of affiliation, he believed it might happen sooner, within a year or two.

Musgrave said his company has 71 other offices in the state, but only a few in Central Washington, including in Yakima and Wenatchee.

Moses Lake has long been a coveted market for Coldwell Banker, he added.

"It's a growing area for a lot of different reasons," he said. "You have some wonderful industrial growth here, plus you're a very attractive market. We're seeing a big increase in movement in retirees, people fleeing the city because it's getting so expensive to live there. You're creating jobs here, so it's just a market which fleshes out for us very nicely."

"It gives us tons of tools," Kathleen Miles, Certified Residential Specialist at the Moses Lake office, said. "We're just going to be able to provide a lot more service to our customers and clients. It's going to be wonderful."

"It expands our networking base," associate broker Christine Hooyer said. "Particularly sellers are going to have a broader field. Buyers are going to come in and recognize this name. Either direction, it's a win-win."

Mark Fancher and Chris Blessing are owners of the Moses Lake office.