The Official HomeRoute Blog

Relocateamerica.com Announces America's Top 25 Places to Live to Go to School

Howell, Mich., September 5, 2007 -- Relocateamerica.com, a website that provides relocating consumers access to resources for their upcoming relocation has released its 2007 list of America's Top 25 Places to Live to Go to School. 

"Over the past 12 months we received nominations for thousands of great schools across the country, all vying to be part of the annual list," said Steve Nickerson, president and CEO.  "This year's main nomination and selection process factors ranged from school spirit to the number of students going on to higher education and the involvement of teachers in the lives of their students.”

In order to make the list, a school must first be nominated by someone familiar with the community's benefits. Relocate America's editorial team reviews the nominations for compelling reasons that make the community stand out for schools. The top 25 towns were chosen because they offered specialized programs, unique offerings and non-traditional curriculum. Other considerations included communities with strong public schools, private institutions, charter schools and other specialized training schools.

Click here to view more details about why these communities were chosen

2007 America's Top 25 Places To Live to Go to School:

Mountain Brook, AL
Little Rock, AR   
Chandler, AZ
San Jose, CA
Colorado Springs, CO
Wilmington, DE
Jupiter, FL
Sarasota, FL
Johns Creek, GA
Naperville, IL   
Winnetka, IL
Olathe, KS
Cape Elizabeth, ME
Birmingham, MI
Troy, MI
Eagan, MN
Columbia, MO
Asheville, NC
Cary, NC
Las Vegas, NV
Spartanburg, SC
Nashville, TN
Arlington, VA
Bellevue, WA
Shoreline, WA

Relocate America is owned by HomeRoute. HomeRoute is a member of National Association Of REALTORS®, the Michigan Association Of REALTORS® and the Livingston Association of REALTORS®.

About HomeRoute
HomeRoute's corporate office is located in Howell, Michigan and has been providing consumers with the help they need to make wise decisions regarding relocation since 1997. Through its nationwide network of realtor partners, HomeRoute helps serve 250,000 real estate consumers each year. For additional information on HomeRoute, please visit http://www.homeroute.com.

Don't forget the core!

Drove by the local health club this morning and saw a sign that read "Special $155 One Year" Imagine how all of existing clients driving up to work out today feel. These guys signed a contract and pay up to twice that. You can chalk that up to these are different economic times' and you do what you have to do to market and create new customers but the guy paying more is also suffering from different economic times' and doesn't care about your new customer. He wants what he paid for and to feel he has the best value for his money.

Compare that to a friend of mine in Northern California who recently shared that she listed her house with an agent 2 months ago and has had one communication with him since (it was an auto generated email, Ouch!) I asked her what was he like at the time of listing? She said he was awesome- great presentation, lots of promises & assurances of what he was going to do for her. So where is he now? i suspect he is out listing more homes creating new clients but not following through and providing the value to his core.

You gotta take care of the core.

3 things to help you win more business.

The traditional real estate sales model isn't going away anytime soon, just the way in which we meet & service our new clients is changing and change it has. Winning the business is all about marketing AKA "lead generation" (these are not bad words), speed, execution, service.... and again... and again... and again... We just completed a survey of 1000 consumers that we placed with our agent partners t/o the US and come to find out of the ones that bought from agents outside our network claimed the reason was better, faster follow up.

Be persistent & consistent & quick.  It remains the name of the game in selling.

Looking for the Best or Looking for Good Enough?

Many real estate consumers are ending up settling for an agent that is good enough and its because the majority (yes. the majority) of real estate agents do NOT provide the level of service & communication expected in this day and age. Finding an agent to provide the follow up and care for a consumer is rare and many end up with good enough or less. Sad but true. As an industry, we are pro-REALTOR all the way, we just need more "PRO"-REALTORS who will deliver a better experience for consumers.

What do consumers want?

What do they deserve?

Only the best!

Relocate America releases 10th Annual 'Top Places to Live' List

Relocate America has released its annual list of the TOP 100 Place to live in America.

Since 1997, HomeRoute has been the driving force behind this list. Our team this year worked especially hard pouring through the nominations and accompanying data. Congratulations to Asheville, NC at the #1 spot.

To view the entire list: http://top100.relocate-america.com/

Thanks to everyone for their nominations, support and feedback through out the year to help make this our best year.

Rising to the Top - of Search Engine Placement

The HomeRoute Insider came across a great article 7 Ways to Boost Your Online Visibility. These tips may not get you to Number 1 but you can increase your rank and the amount of traffic to your website. With simple steps, such as ‘Publish a Press Release Online’ and ‘Acquire Inbound Links’, author Brandon Cornett eases the confusion of getting your website better placement in the search engines.

Read all of Brandon Cornett’s article at Broker Agent News.

Business Plan for 2007

Have you finished your business plan for 2007? The HomeRoute Insider wants to share an article about the “Best Practices” every real estate agent should be doing. Putting together a business plan and goals is the best way to make use of the slower end of year time. Real Estate agent Claudia Wicks says this list “of Top 10 Practices [could] change your real estate career in 2007.”

For the entire list, read the article: http://agentceo.blogspot.com.

Buyers’ and Sellers’ Expectations of YOU

The HomeRoute Insider came across a great reminder list to real estate agents trying to focus in on discovering the real “difference makers” in generating more business in 2007. Although it isn’t entirely based on technology, this Top 10 List written by Elizabeth Weintraub, a Sacramento area real estate agent, is a great read to inspire us to take a good look at how we run our businesses and keep in mind the what it is that “Sellers & Buyers Expect from a Real Estate Agent” and then aim high to exceed those expectations.

Check out: 10 List: What Sellers & Buyers Expect from a Real Estate Agenton The Real Estate Tomato. Read more of Ms. Weintraub’s articles on her own website: http://homebuying.about.com.

“Sticky” Publicity Campaigns for REALTORS

In a changing real estate industry, traditional advertising is becoming less effective. The HomeRoute Insider read an interesting article exploring how real estate agents can gain a competitive edge by creating positive publicity in their community and through their websites to stand out in their market. The article, written by Joe Cook, speaker and entrepreneur with public relations experience with his local association of REALTORS, offers inspiration for agents to showcase their community involvement, how to write press releases, creating authentic taglines and how to give your website “stickiness” that will entice and interest online home buyers.

For inspiration for your business plan going into 2007, check out: Sticky Business: Three Ways to Catch, Hold and Keep Your Customer’s Attention.

Why the Internet is a Tool, not a Threat for REALTORS

Many agents are finding that the Internet is enabling better communication with clients and prospects. When used to its fullest potential, the Internet can be the best tool to preserving the critical “relationship” focus of the real estate business. The HomeRoute Insider read a great post by West Coast Real Estate agent, Kevin Boer, titled: Why the Internet will Never Disintermediate Realtors – Part 2: It builds, not erodes, the relationship. In the post, Boer discusses how the Internet “excels as a relationship-building” tool because communication through the internet can be "targeted, tracked, tweaked, and timed."

Read Boer’s entire post at: http://3oceansrealestate.com. This post is a continuation of Boer's Part 1 Post, which can be read here: Part 1: It's the Relationship, stupid.