Scott Wetzel, owner of a Spokane-based real estate support services company that works with Windermere Real Estate agencies over a broad Mountain West region, says he and his wife, Tracie, have moved into the real estate front lines by buying two Windermere brokerages here.

The couple purchased the Windermere Spokane Valley and Windermere Liberty Lake franchises from owner and designated broker Cate Moye in a transaction completed in mid-December. Wetzel declined to disclose the terms of the deal. 

He says he’s excited about owning a couple of real estate agencies after years of providing services to such Windermere affiliates, adding that it’s “really going to enhance our abilities to be a great affiliate services company” by experiencing first-hand the business challenges that other affiliates experience.

“It just helps you govern and lead the rest of the franchises,” Wetzel says.

The Spokane Valley agency occupies about 6,500 square feet of leased office space on the first floor of the River View Corporate Center, at 16201 E. Indiana, and has close to 50 real estate agents, Wetzel says. It has an office staff of three people, not including Moye, the designated broker, who will remain in the position, he says.

Meanwhile, the Liberty Lake agency is located in a 2,400-square-foot leased space in a commercial strip center at 1429 N. Liberty Lake Road and has about 10 agents, along with an office manager and one other employee, he says.

 Wetzel says he and his wife expect to increase the number of agents working at both locations, hopefully growing the two affiliates to about 100 agents overall.

Wetzel took over sole ownership of Windermere Services Mountain West early last year after buying out the interests of three former co-owners. Prior to that transaction, he had been serving as president and CEO of that real estate services provider.

Windermere Services, which has its offices at 25 W. Cataldo and employs five people there as well as one in Boise, represents Windermere agency affiliates in Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.

Under Wetzel’s guidance, the business provides support services in areas such as marketing, technology, education, relocation recruiting, and business development to 55 residential, commercial, and property management offices that collectively have close to 1,000 agents. In addition, Wetzel assists owners in financial and business planning and is responsible for new Windermere affiliate acquisitions in the Mountain West region.

Wetzel joined Windermere Services/Inland Northwest Inc., which later changed its name to Windermere Services Mountain West, as vice president of business development in 2004. He was named president of the company the following spring and took over operation of the company entirely in 2006.

Before joining Windermere, Wetzel served as CEO of Contineo Technologies Inc., a Spokane-based technology and financial services consulting company that he and Craig Sanders formed in 2001 and developed into a multimillion-dollar concern.

Moss Adams LLP, the Seattle-based accounting and business consulting firm that has a large office here, announced in mid-November that Contineo had agreed to merge with it. It said that beginning Jan. 1, it would begin offering Contineo services that include IT security, regulatory compliance, and internal audit services to financial service organizations.

Intrinium, a Spokane Valley-based information-security consulting and IT support company, announced earlier this month that it had acquired Contineo’s separate network-support division, which comprised that company’s only other assets. 

In addition to his founding role at Contineo, Wetzel co-founded and was president of Innovative Technology Solutions, a multimillion-dollar MicroAge sales and service franchise that he sold to eNucleus Inc. Prior to the ITS ventured, he co-founded BestpricePC.com, an e-commerce Web portal that specialized in computer hardware and software sales to the consumer market.

Windermere Real Estate describes itself as the largest independent real estate company in the West, with more than 300 offices and 7,000 agents serving communities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii and Alaska.