SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - September 6, 2000. EscapeHomes, the first brand name site of its kind, has changed the face of finding the best locations for buying a vacation bungalow, second home or resort property. Recently teaming up with Pulte Homes, Utour.com, VacationHomes.com and MyPrimeTime.com, EscapeHomes (www.escapehomes.com) has introduced an easy-to-use resource to research and buy real estate online, as well as contact a helpful local agent.
With the Baby Boom generation rapidly approaching the retirement and leisure living years, more and more people are beginning to consider the question of the "perfect escape." When it comes to finding the locations that best fit specific requirements in terms of weather, location, cultural activities, recreational facilities and of course, affordability, there's no better property listing and information resource than an easily accessible, interactive site like EscapeHomes. The world's largest new home builder, Pulte Homes, Inc., agreed -recently joining forces with EscapeHomes to provide a significant amount of new home community content to the site.
"Our goal is to make finding the ideal second home easy," said Greg De Martini, Vice President of Marketing for EscapeHomes. By using EscapeHomes, searches can be done according to personal interest, such as skiing, golf, or beach activities. EscapeHomes also offers unique destination living options such as Quaint Towns, Island Towns, World Towns and Cultural Towns - an invaluable resource with new locations added daily. The Golf Towns category, for example, lists 45 destinations as well as tee times and golf course designs. The listings not only provide useful information about known towns, like Santa Fe and Carmel, but also introduce users to towns that could be real discoveries, like Bend, Ore., and Nags Head, N.C. The addition of an affiliate partnership with Utour.com provides virtual tours of EscapeHomes locations, allowing 360-degree images of key points of business, community and historical interest.
Using EscapeHomes is easy and fun. Users enter a category or a city, and are presented with up-to-date information about the climate, culture, entertainment options, special events as well as the daily weather report and access to local area maps. Each destination selected has a featured local real estate agent, who offers color pictures, home descriptions and prices on specific, current listings on the market, along with assistance on other area properties. Sellers of vacation properties can also contact a qualified professional agent through the site. A special services section helps users find all the necessary ancillary products and services associated with owning a second home, plus maintenance resources if they already own one.
"I felt a real need existed for this site because no one was focusing on the trend of retiring Baby Boomers, or for that matter any home buying age group," said Clark Thompson, EscapeHomes' founder and CEO. "Visitors to our site can now make even more informed, confident decisions about their future getaway or retirement destination. The benefits are clear for buyers, sellers and agents, and the need is enormous. Research shows that, by the year 2002, second home, resort and retirement home
purchasing will double. Buyers are seeking out areas that allow them to pursue their active lifestyles. The Internet is the perfect data source for these people."
In addition to adding more locations and more service information on a daily basis, the company has formed exclusive arrangements with leading real estate firms and individual agents within each destination, allowing the agents who really know the area to present their listings in an easily accessible online format.
About EscapeHomes:
EscapeHomes is a complete network directory for people to find places to live and play outside their home communities. EscapeHomes was founded in April 1999 and is based in Orinda, Calif. The EscapeHomes website houses the largest listing of second homes on the web and has received numerous awards, including a Forbes Best of the Web Award. Additional information can be found at www.escapehomes.com.
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For Immediate Release
Contact: Greg De Martini
800.937.9090
greg@escapehomes.com