When you serve your country in a faraway place for months or even years at a time, the concept of “home” begins to take on added significance. This weekend, even as we acknowledge with solemn remembrance that so many men and women through the years did not return home from their tours of duty, we can also celebrate that many more did.
But those homecomings can be fraught with complications and challenges for a variety of reasons. As an industry, real estate agents and their brokerages are in a unique position to help by minimizing those complications and challenges whenever possible – especially through financial programs and incentives geared to this occupation.
One such incentive is HomeTown Heroes, offered by the Ebby Halliday Companies. It’s a reward program that puts a little money back in a new homeowner’s pocket. And who doesn’t need that?
“HomeTown Heroes gives us a modest way to honor our local community heroes,” says Harold Decena, vice president of corporate real estate services. “And not only is it for Veterans, active duty military and reservists, it’s also for those that serve in other heroic capacities: as first responders (firefighters, EMT’s and police), nurses, doctors and teachers.”
The “reward” is in the form of a rebate to the client at closing when they buy or sell residential real estate through an Ebby Halliday Realtors, Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate, or Williams Trew agent.
Ebby Halliday agent Beth Appleby frequently works with heroes in her community in and around Sherman.
“Without our Veteran community, we may not have the liberties we celebrate every day,” Appleby says, “like homeownership and the right to buy and sell. Now that we have added first responders, teachers, and nurses, it brings me great joy to be able to say ‘thank you’ in this way. My clients are always touched by being acknowledged, and the small amount of dollars makes a big difference to them.”
According to Appleby, attaching the HomeTown Hero Rebate disclosure to the front of your offer can help the offer get noticed. The seller sees that an agent is dedicated to the buyer enough to share money with them, so the buyer is taken seriously. And sometimes even title companies and lenders tend to join in with assistance as well, making it a win-win all the way around.
“I have had inspectors offer discounts to my buyers when they hear about HomeTown Heroes,” Appleby says. “It gives my client the ability to make a solid offer when totaling up the out-of-pocket expenses, especially in this market!”
Appleby doesn’t see the gesture as taking money out of her own pocket, but rather as sharing a blessing with someone or a family who has made tremendous sacrifices.
“Even in this crazy-hot market, the majority of my closings have been Hometown Heroes,” she concludes. “I am proud to be part of this program and am grateful to Ebby Halliday Realtors for continuing to offer it.”
For more information about this special program, please contact Robin Higgins at 972-980-6661 / [email protected]. Prosperity Home Mortgage, part of Ebby Halliday Companies’ Core Services, also offers mortgage products that can provide additional savings to qualified participants enrolled in the HomeTown Heroes Program.
