We have created a new mega website that will soon have over 100+ cities featured with content being updated. Each city will have it’s own unique blog that will be updated manually each day, plus great news stories relating to that specific city also on a daily basis.

www.eReloInfo.com will be the main hub with hundreds of city websites spanding from California all the way up to Maine and down to Florida. The website will also feature numerous cities in Canada, plus exclusive content in regards to moving, relocation, and a lot more.

Make sure to check out this new website, and also be sure to bookmark www.eReloInfo.com for more updated city information.
]]> http://realtorleads.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/informative-city-relocation-website-updated-daily/feed/ 0 realtorleads http://realtorleads.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/lead-generation-blog-real-estate-leads/ http://realtorleads.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/lead-generation-blog-real-estate-leads/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:12:26 +0000 realtorleads http://realtorleads.wordpress.com/?p=29 ]]> The Relocation Professionals, home to some of the most updated and fresh Real Estate Blogs, is happy to announce their new website at www.RealEstateLeadsBlog.com. This updated daily website will include web2.0 type of ideas that will help Realtors thrive well into 2009 and beyond. Learn what the diference are between leads, why you need leads, and how exactly leads are Exclusive.

Plus read exclusive interviews from the Marketing and IT Departments inside The Relocation Professionals, and other exclusive content.

• • “A lead, is a lead, is a lead”…right? Absolutely not! All leads are different, and our program is definitely different from companies such as Homegain, Homes, Realtor, etc… In honesty one of the hardest hurdles for us to over come are back experiences with these companies who sell leads of seller value. More than likely 2 out of 10 realtors you talk to will describe a bad experience from a lead generation company. Ranging from non-exclusive, leads were slow, non-scrubbed leads, bad leads, and I could never get a hold of the company.
  • The first difference is Our Leads are Exclusive. This is a very important when thinking about purchasing leads. Do you want to compete with 4 to 10 other real estate agents? Are you wanting to pay for a lead that only you receive, or do you want to enter a free-for-all frenzy where you are competing with other agents?
  • The freshness of a lead is very important!. There are quite a few companies out there that can take 5 – 7 days before you receive a lead. If you can’t get a lead within 72 hours, its an old lead. 90% of our leads are sent out within only a few hours, and no longer than 60 hours over the weekend. This assures our realtors that our leads are fresh, and that you get the first opportunity to contact the relocating home buyers!
  • Print out each lead, then Call them! We recommend that you call every single lead, then Email them accordingly. Use your talent as a realtor to use your communication skills. Email is great for sending notes to family, but emotion gets lost in translation when sending Emails. Your best bet is to always call these home buyer leads and to setup a direct line of communication.We recommend to start off the conversation by saying “Hello i’m John/Jan Doe and i’m the Relocation Specialist for CITY. I received your free relocation package request, and I need some information so I can better suit this package to your direct needs. We recommend to come in low setup a good conversation, then move into real estate information later in the conversation.

• Setup a Follow-up Phone Call. This inclues a reminder phone call to everyone that you first got in contact with. Situations change, and just because a person cannot go through with a relocation now, they might be in a better situation a few months down the road. Call these people back… you might be surprised!
• Create a drip campaign to market to potential and existing clients. Creating a drip campaign is a great way to weed out non-buyers, and to focus your attention on the leads that are wanting to move. This cold be a newsletter that includes marketing articles, inspirational real estate stories, anything that would be use for for them. The more you contact these leads in a positive manner, the better it paints you as a relocation specialist. And the more likely they will purchase from you.We understand that some Realtors are a bit tentative about giving out their phone number, and we do have a solution for that. Simply click on the button below and [without giving us your phone number] the system will call you and us. In this way we will give you a call but not know your phone number unless you tell us.

• Separate your boxes by size, and place appropriate size boxes in each room.
• Have all supplies (i.e. tape, bubble wraps, packing paper) lined up next to your boxes when packing.
• Pack one room at a time, marking each box with a description of its contents and destination (i.e. kitchen, master bath).
• Put heavy items in small boxes and light items in large boxes. Keep weight of boxes reasonable. Group items of similar size and weight. Wrap heaviest items first with bubble wrap or packing paper and place on bottom of box. Wrap lighter items with same and place on top of heavier items, separated by bubble. Fill all voids with packing paper or bubble wrap to prevent shifting.
• Double box fragile items and fill voids between boxes with packing paper or bubble cushioning to avoid shifting.
• Use “FRAGILE” labels on boxes with breakable items. This will alert movers to handle with care.
• When making boxes, reinforce the bottom of all boxes with 2″ packing tape. Start by taping the seam where the two flaps meet, leaving 4′ of overlap on each side. Add two more strips in the same direction, on both sides of your first strip, approximately half way between your strip and the edge of the box. For additional reinforcement, add two perpendicular strips equidistant from each other and the edge of the box. Use a tape dispenser to make the job easier.
• Fill each box as much as possible using packing paper to fill empty space to prevent shifting and breakage.
• Make sure tops and sides of boxes do not bulge or sag. Under-packed boxes may collapse and over-packed boxes may rupture.
• For books, lay flat and alternate bindings to prevent damage.
• Pack plates on their edges in double wall corrugated dish boxes. Dish/Glass Dividers (also known as cell packs) will help keep these items safe and organized.
• Bubble wrap your fragile items. Small bubble is recommended for smaller, lighter weight items. Large bubble (more air in bubbles) is recommended for larger, heavier weight items. For added protection, line your box with bubble before packing.
• To keep large items clean and sanitary, use mattress bags, furniture bags, and stretch wrap.
• Use moving blankets to wrap furniture, appliances, TV’s, or other large objects.
• Use only strong, corrugated carton boxes with covers. The added strength may avoid damage that results from the use of poor-quality packing materials.
• Collect old newspapers for use in packing, but remember that ink may rub off and stain clothing or other items.
• Keep in mind that insect eggs and insects can travel in food boxes.

Here’s a list a packing supplies that will come in handy:

• Plastic bags and labels for easy identification.
• Foam peanuts, styrofoam pellets or “popcorn.”
• Tissue or craft paper for delicate packing jobs.
• Corrugated paper rolls for figurines and fragile items.
• Gummed tape (1 1/2 to 2 inches wide) and/or strong twine for sealing cartons.
• Markers and labels for identifying contents of cartons.
• Notebook and pencil for carton identification log.
• Scissors and/or sharp knife.

This is from HomeBuyersRelocationService.com. These numbers are based on over 176,000 relocation’s. Top 20 List of best relocation cities in the United States for 2009. Each city below is ranked from 1 – 20 by a few factors explained below.

• City increase population
• Medium home price increase/decrease
• Cost of living increase/decrease
• … popularity across our network of over 1,250,000+ pages~

#1 – Charlotte, North Carolina
In 2007 we predicted that Charlotte, NC would be the #2 ranked relocation city in the United States. We were right. This year Charlotte is our #1 pick as the best relocation city for 2008/2009. Charlotte has faired better than any metro city in the 2008 foreclosure crisis, being one of the only cities to still have a strong increase population. Charlotte is one of the rare cities where its cheaper to have a mortgage than pay to rent an apartment/home per month!

#2 – Fort Collins, Colorado
In 2007 Fort Collins was the undisputed champion in regards to best relocation city, but due to the foreclosure crisis it has dropped to #2. Although Fort Collins only has a decreased medium home value of $10,000 – $15,000 it just can’t compete with the massive increase population that Charlotte has. Fort Collins still has a medium home price of $320,000 for new homes and $220,000 for existing homes. This is down from $234,000 in 2006.

#3 – Raleigh, North Carolina
Are we surprised yet? 3 years in a row at #3, and that is a good thing! Raleigh continues to be on of the best relocation cities in the country due to its great low home prices, and competitive earning potential. Although it wasn’t able to be the #1 NC city, Raleigh is boasting about its home medium price increase of $15,000 during the foreclosure crisis. That is some kind of nice!

#4 – Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is another city that has stayed at the same rank as it did in the 2007 season. This city continues to be one of the best relocation cities, due to its very competitive real estate prices of $254,000. Since Atlanta is a hub city, the suburban cities around Atlanta make up the bulk of the areas population.

#5 – Austin, Texas
It was only a matter of time before Austin moved into the top 5 of best relocation cities. It moved up 1 spot from #6, due to very low real estate prices, great job potential, plus the city just “rocks!“

#6 – Phoenix, Arizona
Can you believe back in 2007 that Phoenix wasn’t even in the top 25 for best relocation cities? We elected to add Scottsdale to the list, and give mention to Phoenix as a surrounding city. But this year Phoenix is in the list, and at #6. Some cities faired ok during the foreclosure crisis and some took a huge hit such as Phoenix. One of the hardest hit places in 2007/2008 has been Phoenix, but to relocating families.. this is good news. Prices haven’t been this cheap since 2004/2005 during Phoenix’s last real estate boom. This is the time to purchase real estate in Phoenix.

#7 – Portland, Oregon
Portland is a new comer to the top relocation cities list. It was an honorable mention last year, but in 2008/2009 it is quite deserving to be on the top list. The $360,000 medium home value is a steal considering the home income is very high for Portland.

#8 – Seattle, Washington
Just like last year when we picked Seattle as the 8th best relocation city, it remains #8 today due to jobs. In the last 7 years (now 8 years) Seattle has seen an average population increase of 2% each year. As I said in 2007, “This is a dynamic city, and will remain in the top 10 for years to come.“

#9 – Houston, Texas
It was very hard to decide where to put Houston this year. Statistics have shown increasing population across our network, but a devastating job market and real estate market. But just like Phoenix, Houston is going through a foreclosure crunch that is lowering medium real estate prices. Plus (if you can get a good job) the job market could be turning around in late 08/09.

#10 – Tampa, Florida
Although Tampa is once again is the #1 relocation city for Florida, it has dropped 5 position this year. There is a large influx of people thinking of relocating to Florida, but there is a large exodus out of Florida. Decrease/increase population are currently balancing each other out, but in early 2009… you might see a huge Tampa Real Estate boom!

#11 – San Antonio, Texas
We are quite frankly shocked that San Antonio made it on the top list. Even an honorable mention would of been hard to believe. But from our statistics San Antonio is receiving quite a lot of attention from relocating families. One of the positive things about San Antonio is that since 05′ the medium house values have kept increasing, which is great for current owners. Since the foreclusure crisis in 2007 the average home has increased by $20,000.

#12 – Orlando, Florida
This, once in the top 10, city has dropped 2 positions this year to be out of the top. Another city being hit by hard the foreclosure crisis. Without its (stronger than most FL cities) job situation, Orlando would probably have fallen into the 20′s for best relocation cities. But to due strong job growth Orlando is once again in the top 25.

#13 – Scottsdale, Arizona
Just one year ago Scottsdale was the 11th best relocation city in the country, and #1 for Arizona. But this year Scottsdale has been knocked down to #13 from its previous #11 spot and no longer the #1 Arizona relocation city (i.e Phoenix). Scottsdale is still a very strong city and will remain a top relocation city for many years.

#14 – Denver, Colorado
Congratulations to Denver for changing 4 spots in one year to become the lucky 13th best relocation city in the country. Very affordable real estate prices, and a very strong economical job strength helps Denver jump into the #14 spot.

#15 – Colorado Springs, Colorado
Denver goes up, and Colorado Springs goes down. Colorado Springs is use to being the #2 Colorado city, and once again it keeps its recognition. Due to its strong military presence, this city remains high up on the relocation list. As long as they don’t do a “McDonough” (i.e McDonough, Georgia [Closed Military Base]), the city should remain.

#16 – Las Vegas, Nevada
A year ago things were going great in Las Vegas. There was a T.V made after it, home prices were great, and there were a ton of jobs…. then 2008 hit. The T.V show was canceled, home prices plummeted, and jobs are scarce. Rough times for Las Vegas, but just like Cape Coral/Fort Myers, Florida… Las Vegas once again might be an investors dream!

#17 – Dallas, Texas
A year ago I thought Dallas was definitely going to fall off the top relocation list in 2008. Not only did it not fall off, it increased by 2 spots. Home construction in 2006/2007 for Dallas… was quite frankly horrible. But starting in early 2008 Dallas has started to boom again. Home prices are competitive at $153,000 and jobs are once again abundant in Dallas. You never know Fort Worth might be in the top 25 next year.

#18 – Jacksonville, Florida
Although dropping 4 spots, Jacksonville is once again in the top 25 for best relocation cities. Expect this to continue for many years. A strong military presence just like Colorado Springs, that will continue to increase its population.

#19 – Wilmington, North Carolina
Due to Wilmington being #19, North Carolina should be proud to have 3 cities in the top 20! With great relocation cities in the same area such as Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham, Cary etc.. no wonder a city like Wilmington is also in this top 20 list again!

#20 – Tucson, Arizona
For now the 7th year in a row Tucson has increased its population. Jobs remain strong, and real estate prices remain competitive. Congratulation’s for Arizona having 3 cities in the top 20!

Mr. Alexander: The Relocation Professionals have a unique position in the Real Estate Lead Generation service. We employee some of the best and brightest IT and Marketing/Advertising personal in the business. This allows us to always be a head of the curve, and become bleeding edge. Over the last few years now we have implemented some of the most beneficial services for our Realtors. Several systemic changes have included: Reverse 411 Lookups, Lead Exclusivity, Human Eye & Server Scrubbed Implementation, plus knowing that each lead is Fresh. There are many lead generation companies on the internet that are stuck in 2001. They have not progressed and utilized the services and tools that allow our company to thrive into 2009 and beyond. In a simple term: We are always finding ways to improve our lead quality, so that our Realtors are successful. We know that if the Realtors with our company are not successful, we as a company will not be successful. And in this we are very confident that our company will continue to lead the industry.

Jennifer: How are your leads different?

Mr. Alexander: Our main mantra as a company is very simple: EXCLUSIVE, FRESH, SCRUBBED, and MATCHED. We believe that a lead is only a valid lead if you are the only agent whom is receiving them. If a lead is more than 48 hours old, this is definitely not fresh (i.e bad lead). If the lead isn’t scrubbed, meaning all bad information isn’t kicked out, it’s not a good lead. And finally we match up every single lead we receive to a Reverse 411 Lookup system. This allows us, at times, to find secondary phones numbers and at times fix typo mistakes where people input their phone numbers.

Jennifer: The internet is changing, what have you changed over the last few years?

Mr. Alexander: From a Marketing/Advertising side we have changed dramatically. Since 2008 we finally entered the Web2.0 era. We have since developed blogs, created forums, implemented Twitter and Tumblr accounts, and heavily focusing on our ActiveRain.com Account. Plus over the last 6 months we have opened up a WannaNetwork Account, Zolve, Blogger, and various other types of websites.

We are also proud to have created numerous marketing websites over the last year. This has dramatically increased our organic positioning across our network as a whole. Thus allowing us to reach out to thousands of new Realtors whom we would not be able to contact before. With new ideas of Google Organic Positioning, and state of the art white-hat techniques, we are on pace to increase our organic positioning over 35% through out 2009.

Jennifer: Have you seen an increase or decrease in the amount of people requesting relocation information?

Mr. Alexander: What I can tell you is there are at least 25 cities off the top of my head that I could name that we have seen an increase amount of leads since the beginning of 2009. We have seen cities such as Houston, Tampa, Phoenix, Dallas, Raleigh, Austin, Charlotte all receive an increasing amount of home buyer information requests. The misconception in the real estate industry right now is that people are not relocating. That is entirely untrue, as we have seem a sharp increase since the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Although the trend has diminished a little bit since the highest mark of late 2005, relocation is still a fundamental part of the U.S ideologue.

Jennifer: What do you feel are the top reasons for people to relocate?

Mr. Alexander: In late 2007 our company President Michael Lewis had our IT department setup a network wide poll with two simple questions: What is your main reason for relocating, and How soon will you be relocating? After the 5 month poll was concluded we had our answers, and we were not surprised at all. From our research of over 73,000 people polled the number one reason for relocation was Jobs. The time frame that roughly 70% of people choose as a time frame for relocation was 3-6 months.

Jennifer: Out of the top reasons for relocation, how do you use this information so people find your websites?

Mr. Alexander: The #1 reason why we choose to create our www.National-Job-Search.com was directly influenced by our recently captured data. Since the #1 reason for relocating is jobs, we wanted to help the visitors of our network with an easy navigatinoal job website. Also in 2008 we created a partnership with The Employment Guide, as they are our affiliate for job searching visitors.

Jennifer: How many websites do you own now, including Forums/Blogs etc…?

Mr. Alexander: As of January 2009 we host roughly 1,100 city based websites. We control over 25 blogs, 5 forums, and roughly 25 marketing websites. Across our network we now boast over 250,000 indexed webpage’s just on the Google network. When you add in Yahoo!, MSN, and other search engines and directories we are on pace to have over 700,000 indexed webpage’s.

Jennifer: Do you know how many people access your website network each day and/or month?

Mr. Alexander: Although this number is confidential company information, what I can tell you is that we receive quite a lot of people visiting our websites each day. But a simple equation is if you take roughly 1,100 of our city websites and know that we can receive hundreds of visitors per day to each website, this can equal to a lot of people. Just imagine… these are only our city based websites. This does not include our 100,000+ main national website ( www.eRelocationProfessionals.com ) and/or any of our blogs/forums/marketing websites. Quick simple answer: We receive a lot of unique visitors per day.

Jennifer: What is this 411 Lookup feature that you offer?

Mr. Alexander: We are very proud of our 411 Lookup feature that we implemented in the summer of 2008. The idea is simple: Each lead that comes in gets matched to the Free411.com database to try to verify the number is legit. This feature also attaches a secondary phone number to your lead, if one is found. It’s also a great feature if a person types in their wrong phone number. The system will try to find the correct number and add it to the lead. We all know… typos happen.

Jennifer: What is the future of lead generation for Realtors?

Mr. Alexander: Realtors as a whole are unfortunately a bit behind the curve in realizing that the internet is the #1 key to advertising their business. So this creates a unique avenue for our company to help them get in touch with relocating families. A professional Realtor with a good attitude, and excellent communication skills, can easily take one of our home buyer leads and turn this into a closing.

You can check out the conversation by clickin on this direct link http://realtyleads.tumblr.com/post/78082871/q-a-with-the-relocation-professionals