J. Ellis Apartment Locators was "born" in 1984 to fill a huge void in the apartment locator business. The founder, Rick Ellis, observed a significant lack of professionalism and expertise in locating at that time. Rather than a client-centered approach, most locators seemed to be using cheesy and manipulative sales techniques to simply get them their next commission. The apartment rental clients' real needs and concerns were not considered. The apartment locator business has thankfully changed and improved since the mid 80's and J. Ellis Apartment Locators has been the industry leader in providing friendly, professional and client-centered service to apartment renters for over 23 years. We start by focusing on your rental needs and fully understanding your situation. Only then do we use your rental criteria to search for the apartment communities that best meet your expectations and budget. Finally, we provide you with several options of which to choose. We don't tell you at which community to lease; we just eliminate the hundreds of properties that do not meet your needs. Then you make your own decision.
	North Irving - Our First Office Our original office on Beltline Rd. in North Irving opened on January 17, 1985 and remains the largest and busiest locator service in that area. We worked with no heat for the first few weeks in business because of complications getting a gas line to the space. Yet that first office became profitable in March, the third month of business. Customers appreciated our professional approach and our hands on knowledge of the apartment communities. Because the owner of J. Ellis had extensive apartment management experience, he already had established deep roots and lasting relationships with many of the property owners. He knew the best rental values and the most professional management available. Even today, J. Ellis Apartment Locators is the locator service considered most knowledgeable and professional by the apartment communities and management companies throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. North Irving Office Doubles in Size J. Ellis was an immediate success and our business growth required more space within the first 18 months. In 1987, we doubled our size taking on the adjoining space and creating the office configuration used today in the North Irving / Beltline Road location. Additional growth required us to relocate our corporate office and accounting folks in 1989 to allow room for our ten J. Ellis locators to properly assist their clients. Our North Irving office is still Irving's largest and most diverse apartment locator service. Through the years, we have helped thousands of individuals find the right place to live. And today we have clients who are returning to use our FREE service for the third, fourth and fifth time. These customers who continue returning to J. Ellis to find their next apartment home validates the focus and philosophy of the way we do business. These repeat customers are perhaps the most gratifying aspect of our business.
	Three More Locator Offices Over the next three years J. Ellis Apartment Locators added three additional locations to meet the growing demand of our rental clients. 1987/North Arlington - Located on North Collins near Green Oaks, this office allowed J. Ellis to extend our influence throughout Arlington, the Mid-Cities, Fort Worth, and the entire Tarrant County. 1988/North Dallas - This Trinity Mills at Midway office gave J. Ellis access to the high growth North Dallas Parkway corridor. This area of Dallas was the apartment developers' choice location at the time and thousands of apartment units were under construction. 1989/Northeast Dallas - Our Skillman at LBJ Freeway office gave us better access to our clients looking to locate in the Central Expressway corridor, Downtown Dallas, Garland, Mesquite, and the East Dallas neighborhoods. J. Ellis Successes Brought Suitors Our success and growth did not go unnoticed by the multi-family industry. In 1989 a major Dallas based apartment developer approached J. Ellis with an offer we could not refuse. Their initiative to diversify their business model included the acquisition of other apartment industry related companies. This developer recognized J. Ellis as the leader in apartment locating in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and pursued us with enough passion and money to get our attention! Three of the four J. Ellis offices were sold and we signed non-compete agreements allowing us to operate only our single Irving location. For several years thereafter J. Ellis operated only its original Beltline Road location in North Irving. Though legal agreements prevented us from adding locations, we stayed busy and focused on developing our long-term relationships with the Dallas/Fort Worth Apartment Communities, the developers, and the property management companies. We also used this time to take the logical but dramatic step into the next level of technology. It was time for J. Ellis to get wired! J. Ellis Leads the Way In Technology A chance meeting in Orlando, Florida led us to the nation's most technologically advanced apartment locating company. Apartment Hunters, Florida's largest with eight offices in Orlando, Tampa, and Gainesville, agreed to license their unique and revolutionary "KWIK Find" locator software to J. Ellis and its current and future offices. We remain the only company in the nation who is licensed to use this remarkable software and J. Ellis clients continue to benefit from its customer-friendly features. Our commitment to technology creates many advantages to all J. Ellis clientele as apartment information becomes available in most any format and source. Your J. Ellis Relocation Professional can deliver your apartment info via fax, mail, hand delivery, or the Internet. Yet we will never allow technology to come between our goals of providing the very best in personal, friendly service. There We "Grow" Again! With systems and technology ready for the future, we again identified new office locations to meet the growing demand of the choosey and discriminating apartment renter. It became obvious that the "new" growth area for apartment residents was to the north in Las Colinas/Valley Ranch and into Denton County. So J. Ellis Apartment Locators headed north! 1994/Las Colinas Apartment Locators - We were forced to consider the growing needs of our corporate customers in the"3rd Downtown" business Mecca of Las Colinas. So in '94 we acquired a prime retail location in the heart of Las Colinas. Previously an office for another apartment locator company, this new location at the southwest corner of MacArthur and Walnut Hill Lane gave us immediate exposure and traffic. "Las Colinas Apartment Locators" was the name given to this special niche office. Given its location and its close proximity to the North Irving J. Ellis office, we believed the Las Colinas moniker was most appropriate for what has become our executive and corporate housing specialty office. 1998/Lewisville - North Dallas real estate development continues to race up I-35 toward Denton as this area expands into one of the DFW Metroplex’s most desirable places to reside. Our research identified Lewisville, a fast growth, upscale, family-oriented suburb, as the perfect location for our next office. With its many new luxury apartment communities the Lewisville/Flower Mound area and surrounding suburbs Southeast Denton County has also become the relocation choice of many major employers. Our Lewisville office is minutes from the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and a short 30-minute commute to downtown Dallas. This office also serves the Las Colinas/Freeport Business area as well as the new Highway 121 and the new George Bush Freeway (191) corridors. About the Owner Rick Ellis, CPM, Broker/Owner Since 1980, Mr. Ellis has been involved in the management and operation of apartments and other residential rental real estate, handling a portfolio as large as 6,000 units in four major markets. In addition to his management experience, he is also recognized as an industry expert in apartment marketing, property positioning, and evaluation of rental markets and sub-markets throughout the country. A strong public speaker, Mr. Ellis makes hundreds of presentations each year on topics from basic apartment leasing and resident retention to the "Economics of Apartments." His ongoing consulting contracts include national and regional management companies and several Dallas-based REITs with nationwide portfolios. Mr. Ellis received a Bachelor of Science in 1977 and Masters of Art in 1979 from Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas. He holds the Certified Property Manager (CPM) designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management. EPMS has earned the prestigious Accredited Management Organization (AMO) designation from that same association. Mr. Ellis is a licensed Real Estate Broker in Texas as well as an Eagle Scout. The J. Ellis locator agents are ready to serve our on-site friends and rental clients seven days a week from four convenient locations around the DFW Metroplex. Our 22 friendly and experienced locator professionals do not view the apartment on-site people as simply "customers" or our rental clients as simply the "next commission". These hardworking site-level professionals and rental prospects are truly "partners". Without them there would be no J. Ellis Apartment Locators, and we know it! The owner, Rick Ellis, has maintained the original company mission: to be the kind of locator service that works in concert with the many on-site professionals throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. At J. Ellis we know who the real customer is! Locating is a tough business, and only truly people-oriented locators with comprehensive product knowledge can be successful. J. Ellis is fortunate to work with some of the finest locator agents in the DFW Metroplex and salutes its current team of locator professionals for their contributions to its success. An apartment locator service is only as good as its locators. For that reason J. Ellis is very good! Our Locating Philosophy Our goal at J. Ellis is to work with each individual apartment community, consider its unique needs and leasing requirements, and refer only rental prospects that fit their criteria. If J. Ellis does its work correctly, the referral arrives at the property "pre-qualified" and already motivated to lease. This way everyone wins. The J. Ellis Apartment Locator Team At J. Ellis we believe "Production is King!" J. Ellis locator agents use their unique and exclusive "Dallas/Fort Worth Kwik Find" locator software that allows prospects to view both floor plans and pictures of the communities on each locator's personal computer monitor. This same technology creates personal, customized Moving Books for our rental clients. Every J. Ellis locator agent is also provided their own computer, e-mail address, and static DSL Internet connection to keep them a step ahead of the competition. If you're interested in joining the J. Ellis Apartment Locators team or in exploring the exciting field of apartment locating, call: Rick Ellis, Broker/Owner J. Ellis Apartment Locators 972-256-7500
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