What do you define as a neighborhood?
Will you sell ads or banners on my site?
Can I sell my site if I leave the business?
How do my listings and solds get posted?
How many listings can I post and what listings should I post?
Can I post someone else’s listings on my Real Estate page?
How many people can buy the neighborhood I want?
Why do you charge $35 per month for hosting?
How much customizing can I do on my site?
Why is my picture at the bottom instead of the top?
What do you do to market my site?
What happens when someone submits a post that’s unacceptable?
How does the news, weather, sports and stocks get posted?
When events and want ads are outdated, must I request that they be deleted?
What’s to prevent someone from posting an inappropriate picture?
How much can I charge for ads on my Professional Services page?
What if I don’t want a Professional Services page?
What if I don’t have a newsletter for them to subscribe to?
Can I add more links to my links page?
What training do you provide?

What do you define as a neighborhood?(Back to top)

There are two criteria. The first is size and the second is the neighborhood name. Results show that this product works best in neighborhoods of two hundred to five hundred homes. If a neighborhood is too small, there's a risk that there may not be enough activity to keep it vibrant. Too large, and the sense of community that binds a neighborhood, begins to diminish. Regarding the neighborhood name, it is important that it be something with which the residents can identify. If the neighborhood is an actual subdivision, the name of the subdivision, or something similar, is best. If it is not a subdivision, the name can be anything else that can identify the neighborhood, like parks, small lakes, statues, town squares, valleys, and many more. Here are just a few examples:

SwanLakeArea.com
ProspectParkNeighbors.com
NewvilleTownSquare.com
HiddenValleyWebsite.com
WhitmanStatueAreaNeighbors.com

Yes, we realize some of these are a little corny, but it should give you the idea of how creative you can be when you want to prospect a neighborhood that does not have an actual subdivision name.

Also, don't forget about townhouse and condominium developments. They are often in a lower price range than single-family homes, but there is usually a higher turnover rate, giving you the opportunity to find more sellers.

Will you sell ads or banners on my site? (Back to top)
Absolutely not! There will never be any banner ads or any other kind of ads on your site. The only ads you will ever see are those you place on the Professional Services page. We will never use your site as a “model site” in our sales efforts without your express consent.

Can I sell my site if I leave the business? (Back to top)
Certainly! That’s one of the beautiful things about building your business this way. As time passes, it becomes more and more valuable. When you decide to take your millions and retire, there’s nothing to prevent you from selling this asset just as any other asset. We charge a $200 transfer fee for the work we have to do when it sells, but everything else you get from the sale proceeds is yours to keep.

How do my listings and solds get posted? (Back to top)
We understand that you are in the real estate business and that's what you do best. We are in the Internet business and that's what we do best. So let's just each do what we do best! You get the listing and sold information to us any way you can and we'll take care of getting it posted, OK? You can email the pictures and ad copy or you can send them via snail mail. The best way is for you to load the listings yourself and then simply email the pictures to us for posting. Whatever works best! If the listings are somewhere else on the Internet, just tell us and we'll get them from there.

How many listings can I post and what listings should I post? (Back to top)
You can post a total of six listings. We recommend a combination of both listed and sold properties. We recommend that any listings or solds that you post are relative to the people in the neighborhood. They want to know about properties up the street or a few streets away, but not across town. We also recommend that you post more solds than listings. They can find your listings lots of places, but you may just be the only source of sold information, and that will make your site more valuable to the residents.

Can I post someone else’s listings on my Real Estate page? (Back to top)
Absolutely. However, just to be sure you do everything legally and ethically, you should get permission from both the seller and the listing agent first. You should also disclose in the ad copy that the listing is not yours. We can help you with the right words to make the disclosure. The great thing about this feature is that if you don't have many listings or you are a buyer's agent, you can still post information of value to the people in your neighborhood. That makes you valuable to them. When posting solds, you normally don't need consent from anyone, because the closed sale is a matter of public record.

How many people can buy the neighborhood I want? ( (Back to top)
Nobody but you! They are available on a first come, first served basis. When someone buys a neighborhood, we won’t sell it to anyone else. It’s yours exclusively. That’s why it’s a good idea to buy all the neighborhoods you want to control right in the beginning.

Why do you charge $35 per month for hosting? (Back to top)
Actually it's a lot more than just hosting. We do all the monitoring and maintenance on all submissions by the people in your neighborhoods. When they post recipes, lawn and garden tips, home maintenance tips, want ads, new neighbor information, or neighborhood photos, we make sure all content is appropriate. We also are providing world-class customer service.

How much customizing can I do on my site? (Back to top)
One of the ways we are able to provide such high quality sites at such low cost is because we create template driven sites and therefore customizing is somewhat limited. However, the front page greeting from you is completely customizable. When your site is created, we fill that page with some quality generic content, but you are completely free to edit it or even do a complete re-write. You also have complete control over the content on your Local Real Estate and Professional Services pages. And just as the people in your neighborhood do, you can post items to the other pages as well. Our "Where We Live" page is a hit with residents and is totally controlled by as to content.

Why is my picture at the bottom instead of the top? (Back to top)
Your picture and contact information is at the bottom of each page. The reason for being placed there is that your neighborhood site is not about you. It's about the neighborhood. It only has value to them if they see it as their site to use in all the ways possible. If you become the dominant focus of the site, it's no longer about them, but rather about you and they no longer feel important and won't come back. However, notice that every time they open a recipe, a home maintenance tip, or a lawn and garden tip, you're there. You are also present on any of the news pages and the calculator pages. Most people who find this information useful, will print those pages. And when they do, you and your contact information will be them giving them "top-of-mind" awareness about you and the services you provide as a real estate professional.

What do you do to market my site? (Back to top)
We will provide you with some great marketing tools to help you get your neighborhood site launched. When your site is created, we will send you three things: (1) a yard-sign order form. We’ve negotiated with a sign maker who can furnish yard signs in low quantities. You can use these signs to announce the site by placing them at strategic street corners in the neighborhood. (2) A document with “four-up” postcards. All you need to do is take them to your printer, have them printed and mail them out. (3) Door hangers. Take them to your printer and hire a neighborhood kid to distribute them. Additionally, as time goes on, we will share ideas we get from other customers on how to make your site a terrific farming and prospecting tool.

What happens when someone submits a post that’s unacceptable? (Back to top)
We will read everything that is posted to your site. It gets posted automatically, but only after we screen it to be sure it reflects the high quality of information you would like to see posted on your site. We will even make some spelling and grammatical corrections as needed. Also, all pictures will be screened as well. They will only be posted if they are appropriate.

How does the news, weather, sports and stocks get posted? (Back to top)
We use a number of subscription services to provide us with our news, weather and sports feeds. We subscribe to a service that provides up-to-date stock market information. The people in your neighborhoods will even be able to enter their own stock portfolio and track it from their own computer. We will also place a link on the news feed area of your home page to a local newspaper of your choice. Quality content and information is what will keep the people in your neighborhoods coming back again and again.

When events and want ads are outdated, must I request that they be deleted? (Back to top)
You have complete control over these pages and can delete outdated information as you see fit.

What’s to prevent someone from posting an inappropriate picture? (Back to top)
We will review everything that is posted to your site. It gets posted automatically, but only after we screen it to be sure it reflects the high quality you would like to see posted on your site. Pictures will only be posted if they are appropriate.

How much can I charge for ads on my Professional Services page? (Back to top)
That decision is yours. There is a limit of six ads on the page, so you can charge whatever you want to offset the cost of your site. For example, if you were to sell four spots at $125 per year, it would more than cover your monthly fees. If you wish to make a profit, you can do so.

What if I don’t want a Professional Services page? (Back to top)
If you decide you would rather not sell any ads at all, we can simply turn off your Professional Services page so it won’t even appear.

What if I don’t have a newsletter for them to subscribe to? (Back to top)
There are a number of services that provide on-line newsletters. However, if you prefer not to have a newsletter, this button can be turned off and not even appear on your site. But before dismissing the newsletter idea, consider that you can put together a few simple bits of information from MLS data and send it out monthly to your email address book. We can help you with ideas for this.

Can I add more links to my links page? ( (Back to top)
Yes. Some of our customers add dozens of links. You can even create new categories if you wish. Be as creative as you wish with the links page. There is no limit to the valuable content you can place there.

What training do you provide? ( (Back to top)
We have weekly training that you can take in the comfort of your home or office. You will be seated at your computer, watching our computer screen and connected by telephone conference call so you can ask all the questions you want. The training takes about an hour and is given at different times and days each week.