BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS EXPANDS RELO SERVICES

Stroudsburg - Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates announced the continued expansion of their fulltime Relocation Department located at the 304 Park Avenue office.

The Wilkins organization remains a member of Employers' Resource Council (ERC) and was chosen again by a premier provider of global mobility management located in Connecticut. . This is the third year that Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates has been chosen to represent them in Northeast Pennsylvania.

ERC, located in Ohio, is a worldwide relocation network of the top real estate Brokers in the United States. Member Brokers handle corporate, broker to broker and Fortune 500 moves through brokers who have joined their network. Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates has been a member of ERC for the past 7 years.

In addition to relocation services, the department will also focus on outgoing referrals and will re-promote their Commission Rebate Program whereby a person sells their home in the Poconos and then has up to 18 months to relocate to another area and purchase a home. When they do, a portion of their commission charged in the sale of their Pocono home is credited to their new purchase. "Our commission rebate program was very successful at the height of the market. When the housing industry slowed down, it wasn't used as much. We're hoping it will be used extensively in 2011." said Dominick J. Sacci, President of the Wilkins organization.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates offices are located in Stroudsburg and Bushkill. The fulltime Relocation Department is under the direction of Jessica Miller, Director of Support Services and day to day referrals are handled by Toni Jones.

Selling Homes Since 1988… Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates services the entire Pocono Mountains, North Pocono/Moscow area, historic Milford and all towns in between. Better Homes and Gardens Realtors handle listing, rentals and sales of primary, vacation and starter homes, as well as estate and farm properties. Buyer services include first and second home buyers, relocation buyers and transferees. Visit Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates on line at www.wilkins1.com

RELOCATION SERVICES--What a Broker and a Realtor need to know

Pocono Mountains - Several years ago the relocation business in the Poconos did not warrant a full-time department let alone an actual Relocation director with a support staff. Our relocation business consisted only of those referring Brokers that we may have met in our real estate career that had a buyer or seller that they wanted to send to us. At the end of the day, it didn't add up to a large percentage of our business. But all of that has changed.

About four years ago, we started a full-time Relocation Department catering to corporate moves into the Pocono region. We were astounded at the number of transactions that we generated in just one year. We found that people who were being transferred into New Jersey (to work) preferred to live in the Pocono Mountains because of the affordability and with the expansion of Sanofi Pasteur, Mount Airy Resort & Casino, Tobyhanna Army Depot, Piccatinny Arsenal and Nestle, just to mention a few, we found out there was quite a lot of corporate grade business to be had.

We became members of ERC (Employee Relocation Council) to enhance our business and when we became a Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate broker, we immediately took advantage of CARTUS® Broker Network which is the arm of Realogy that handles relocation business. Although it's very expensive to be a part of the Cartus network, it pays off in the end. We're the only Broker CARTUS® uses in the Pocono Mts.

There are really three types of referral business, (1) Affinity referrals, those referrals that come from various civic, professional and other organizations whose members utilize the services of a relocation company for the savings; (2) Corporate referrals--(with the change in the economy are not that much as it stands right now) which consist of corporations that offer relocation packages to their employees for accepting a position in either the originating or destination cities and (3) Broker to Broker referrals which through a third party company can represent a good amount of business that's kept within the elite brokers that are members of those organizations. The typical fee that's charged is 25% - 35% with the average being 30%.

We actually developed a rebate program where our sellers, if they use our services to relocate, are able to earn rebates on the commission that they paid of us to sell their originating home. It was a raving success with those people that were relocating out of the area and then buying a home. It also worked very well for those people that were upgrading their homes; they were able to save some commission dollars at the same time. The rebate part of the relocation business is exclusive to Wilkins & Associates.

What started four years ago now represents 20% of our overall business and we're averaging between 12 and 18 referrals (both outgoing and incoming) on a monthly basis. We've developed an "A Team" which consists of six Brokers that are trained in relocation business as well as stand-by teams which handle the Broker to Broker referrals or the ERC directory referrals.

Relocations services--you just can't say no to that type business in today's market.

Thomas R. Wilkins is CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates. He started the company in 1988 with three people in Mount Pocono and grew it to over 14 offices throughout their tenure. Now, after consolidations the company has 2 primary offices. Their Corporate address is 304 Park Avenue, Stroudsburg. Toni Jones is the Relocation Department manager and supervising her position is Jessica Miller, Director of Support Services.

Learn more about Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates at www.wilkins1.com.