Elliott Kophs, Asset Manager

Elliott grew up in the Seattle area, mostly on the east side of Lake Sammamish. He grew up exploring the wetlands near his family’s house and has always had a great appreciation for the outdoors. Elliott attended Skyline High School in Sammamish, which was very rigorous academically, but also very rewarding. He met many lifelong friends there and played basketball for all 4 years. After high school Elliott decided to attend WWU, which at the time he was very reluctant about (both my parents had gone there, and was convinced he needed to go to school in California or Colorado). Elliott spent the summers doing yard work for his neighbors which eventually turned into a small landscaping business, which he grew to over 50 clients.

Elliott studied Finance at WWU, graduating this past December. He has always had a fascination with markets, metrics, and the quantitative side of business. The Finance program offered all those things, however, it left much to be desired in other aspects. As much as he liked crunching complicated investment banking calculations and using various financial theories to dissect a business or project a stock price, Elliott couldn’t see himself going down that path as a career. As a former small business owner, he missed the relationships that he developed with clients. To Elliott, running his small landscaping business was much more gratifying than running numbers through complicated formulas.

 Luckily, through one of his classes, Elliott was able to get connected with Bellingham local developer, Jeff Kochman and he eventually interned under Jeff during the 22-23 school year. While working for Jeff, Elliott wore many hats and learned a lot about the commercial real estate industry. The commercial real estate world was completely new to Elliott, but he was immediately captivated by the strong relationships within the industry (specifically within the Bellingham community) combined with the financial knowledge and quantitative ability required to be successful. Elliott feels very fortunate to find the perfect opportunity at Saratoga as an asset manager (and soon to be broker) which will allow him to continue to learn about the industry, while building relationships within the community.

 On a non-professional note, in his free time Elliott enjoys being outdoors. Elliott loves to hike, play basketball, backpack, kayak, and ski during the winter. He is also a sports fanatic with his favorite teams being the Seahawks, UW Football, Mariners, and Kraken. Elliott also likes to read, watch movies, and spend time with his girlfriend and friends whenever he can.