Salvesen named top realtor

"I'm proud of how it's all come together; of how it's all evolved," said Salvesen, who got her start in 1994. In 2007 she bought Windermere Glenn Taylor Real Estate, after joining the firm in 2005 and serving as principal broker.

"It's not me," she said. "It's everyone who does their job every day, and that makes us, us. It makes us more like 'company of year.'

"We have great people," she said. "There are a lot of great agents around, but I have a large majority of them."

Each year a MCAR selection committee, made up of board officers, past recipients and MCAR members, nominates and votes on the Realtor of the Year. The selection is then based on the realtor's own community involvement, volunteering, high ethical standards of practice and service in the local association.

"Kim Salvesen, the 2011 recipient, exemplifies all of these standards and more," said MCAR Executive Officer Hannah Settje.

"We are privileged to have an excellent Broker/Owner such as Kim in our Association and honored to have her as this year's Realtor of the Year," Settje said. "She truly does exemplify the standards of conduct this award portrays.

"Kim works tirelessly in the entire Columbia Gorge helping many people along the way," she said.

Salvesen will receive the award at a ceremony during MCAR's general membership meeting in November.

Glenn Taylor Windermere is the largest real estate company in the Gorge with current sales production of more than $43 million in sales, according to the Realty Multiple Listing Service.

The 2011 sales production of $43 million is up 14 percent over 2010 sales volume of $37 million year to date.

Salvesen is also past winner of the Realtor of the Year award from the Board of Realtors in Lincoln County, where she also owns Know Your Coast Realty.

She joined Glenn Taylor Realtors in Stevenson in 1994 and Pete Anderson Realty in Lincoln City in 1997, followed by Windermere Coastal Properties in Lincoln City and Salishan as principal broker in 2000-04.

In 2005 she opened Know Your Coast, and in 2005 she joined Windermere Glenn Taylor Real Estate in Hood River as associate broker, and has been risk reduction manager and principal broker.

Salvesen also owns Windermere Glenn Taylor offices in Stevenson, Bingen and Goldendale.

Salvesen sees a big part of her role as imparting to other young people the advantages of owning property.

"I think if we help the young people, in college, understand the investment in real estate it helps everyone overall," Salvesen said. "You do that through education, to help them see the value of understanding real estate, and to learn, while they are younger, how real estate works."