Home Referral Network
During our 14+ years in business, we have helped thousands of home buyers and home sellers

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Home Referral Network (HRN) is a real estate referral company that together with its precursors has been in business for over 14 years, well before the Internet Age. HRN began its referral business as Buyer's Homefinding Network in the Denver, Colorado, area in 1989. In 2000, HRN expanded to service listing referrals. It has assisted thousands of buyers and sellers in locating the right real estate agent for them. For nine years, the company has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of BHIF Relocation Group, Inc. HRN has many participating REALTORS® in its 14 year old network. HRN buyer and broker testimonials are available under user comments. The BHIF/HRN relationship was formed to provide better service and innovative products that individuals can use in search for professional coordination of their relocation/move and real estate transactions.

BHIF is a ten-year-old company that has developed proprietary products and related technology to support an under-serviced $3.1 billion relocation market. Our primary product, the Relocation TRIP® Kit, is designed to meet the "retail" relocation needs of individuals and small to medium-sized companies. Having been successfully tested and released to the market in 2002, the Relocation TRIP® Kit is currently being ordered and re-ordered by HR departments in support of their transferees. In June 2004, the company introduced its free resource consumer nationwide relocation Web site that also offered the option of a Relocation TRIP® Kit subscription to any consumer.

BHIF technology offers the transferee 24/7 interactive access to a password protected personal database that is not available from competitors. Strategic relationships with financing and moving companies provide the additional infrastructure required to service Relocation TRIP® Kit clients. Additional alliances are in development. BHIF's mission is to provide a fixed-fee product that offers people without access to executive-level coordination: (1) full-service relocation solutions and record keeping, (2) significant move-related rebates and credits, and (3) a Personal Relocation Counselor.

Of the six million homes sold in the US each year, about 3.5 million of them involve a formal household move. Only 500,000 of these transfers are covered under an employee benefit plan and serviced by a relocation company for a fee. The other three million “retail” transferees typically do not have access to employer-reimbursed relocation plans and are considered an unprofitable opportunity for most full-service relocation firms.

BHIF has assembled a comprehensive executive-level package of moving / relocation services, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of “retail” transferees, available through the company’s proprietary Relocation TRIP® Kit.

The Relocation TRIP® Kit is best described by relating to your own individual relocation experiences. Did you ever have to move on your own because your employer did not provide any assistance? If your move was even partially paid, you still were left with all the hassles. Our product, the Relocation TRIP® Kit, provides the following executive-level coordination and relocation management services, which to this point have only been available through fully reimbursed corporate benefit programs:

  • A Personal Relocation Counselor to help you every step of the way
  • Home sale assistance including REALTOR® services
  • Moving assistance including a van line
  • Home buying assistance including REALTOR ® services and a lender
  • Apartment locators for temporary moves or if no home buying is involved
  • Settling-in assistance
  • 24/7 Internet database access to your personal relocation file
  • Service use credits and real estate commission rebates

All these services have always been available independently of each other in the retail relocation market. BHIF however, now coordinates the identification and use of all the required relocation services via the Relocation TRIP® Kit. The cost of the Kit is $995 and includes up to $800 in credits for services used and $1700 in real estate commission rebates if the transferee uses a REALTOR® referred by BHIF. The credits come from participating strategic partners such as Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and North American Van Lines St. Vrain Moving and Storage. The rebates come from BHIF's share of received real estate referral fees. The decision as to which, if any, of BHIF’s strategic partners are used and where relocation dollars will be spent, are made by the individual transferees.

One of the most important aspects of a successful relocation is keeping track of the many move related activities, which typically number more than 100. Tracking multiple items for multiple clients, each with a unique set of preferences and requirements is not a simple task. In 1995 BHIF began development of a proprietary software program known as the File Activity Tracking Format System (Fatform® System). This sophisticated extended relational database system provides a user-friendly interface with 24/7 Internet access for clients and Personal Relocation Counselors. The proprietary software is designed around two open source software packages. These are Apache Web Server and PostgreSQL running on Unix. The system has been designed such that many screens can be easily changed to accommodate the needs of BHIF’s corporate clients, which include customized Intranet and Internet pages. A methods and apparatus patent application integrating this technology with the database proprietary software has been submitted to the U.S. Patent Office. The patent is currently under review.

Selling or buying a home and relocating is considered to be one of life’s most stressful events, however you don’t have to do it all yourself. The Relocation TRIP® Kit and a Personal Relocation Counselor from the BHIF Relocation Group provide everything you need to organize your move, control the cost and minimize your stress. We would appreciate the opportunity to assist you with your next move.



Management Team

The company founders, George Spitzer and Sam Alexander, have assembled a compatible team of executives with extensive industry expertise spanning more than 250 years.

Sam Alexander, Chairman of the Board and CEO. A senior executive with 30 years of high-level achievement in venture capital, workouts, financial structuring, and real estate, Sam has successfully managed the turnarounds and insolvency conversions of several companies, such as Scan Optics where he arranged a $6M private venture placement when they were losing $1M per month. Sam was President of Potomac Federal Corporation in Washington D.C. (successor to Command Financial Corporation) prior to joining the Board of Directors and workout management team of Potter Instrument, a former American Stock Exchange Company with 12,000 public shareholders. In 1978, he served as CEO, President and operating trustee of Potter during a Chapter XI bankruptcy workout where $30 million in bank debt was settled for 30 cents on the dollar. Other than John Potter the founder, there were no public shareholder lawsuits against the company.

George Spitzer, President and COO. An experienced executive in direct consumer, web-based, and database consumer service marketing. George was with Book-of-the-Month Club for 12 years, where he developed and profitably ran new technology divisions such as recordings, videocassettes, and computer software. He then formed a direct marketing and entertainment product development-consulting firm, George Spitzer & Associates, Inc., which specialized in implementation of its recommendations. As a principal in the development of precursors to BHIF Relocation Group and its subsidiaries, George launched seven proprietary websites: BuyersResource.com, ConsumerCompanion.com, fisbos.com, FinderHome.com, cprop.com, Nebbadoon.com, and BHIFgroup.com. Most of these sites generate direct and indirect revenue to their respective companies. All the sites involve innovative marketing strategies.

Richard Bluestine, CPA and CFO. A senior financial executive with over 30 years experience, Dick was a partner in a major multi-national accounting firm where he served as the engagement partner for various NASDAQ and Fortune 500 companies. During the last several years Dick has served as CFO and member of the board of two small publicly held corporations, MMIC and Planet Entertainment Corporation. He joined BHIF in December 2002.

Ben Sommers, Vice President, Operations. With 25 years experience and the designation of Senior Certified Relocation Professional (SCRP), Ben is a recognized expert in the relocation management industry. He is one of 29 people nationally who hold the SCRP designation in the relocation service provider category. His background includes business development, sales and marketing management, vice president of operations, and senior vice president of client relations and quality assurance. As an active member of the Employee Relocation Council (ERC) and past Vice President for the Rocky Mountain Relocation Council (RMRC), Ben has been invited to speak at a number of national and regional relocation conventions. During his tenure as member of the ERC Law & Government Relations Committee, Ben participated in dialogue with the IRS to preserve the favorable tax treatment enjoyed today by the relocation industry. While serving as a member of the ERC Toxic Substances Sub-Committee, he wrote policy regarding radon gas and asbestos detection and remediation. Ben has been honored by the ERC with the Meritorious and Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his contributions and commitment to relocation.

Michael Reed, VP and Chief Technology Officer. Michael has more than twenty years experience in the strategic and tactical development and integration of technical organizations and infrastructure. With a three-person team, Michael conceived, designed, and implemented the first commercial frame-relay network on behalf of the world's leading data telecommunications provider. This frame relay network provided the backbone support for more than eighty percent of the domestic Internet traffic including core backbone support for MSN, UUnet, Aegis, and others. Michael pioneered the commercial application of ATM network technology in the commercial sector. As the first telecommunications scientist to apply ATM network technology to traditional private-line networks, Michael revolutionized the revenue generating potential of existing provider infrastructures. Michael's ATM-based innovations allow a twelve-fold increase in revenue from existing physical assets. Today, every facilities-based telecommunications provider benefits from this innovation. Working with the National Science Foundation and MCI, Michael was a significant contributor to the development of the “very High Performance Backbone Network Service” (vBNS) architecture.


Management Advisory Committee

The management of BHIF is supported by the Management Advisory Committee, which advises on aspects of the company including its future growth and strategic direction. The committee, excluding Board members and employees, comprise experts in their respective fields as follows:

Steve Abbott. Steve has been associated with the sales and marketing activities of two venture companies providing products and services related to the field service and repair industry, Maverick Technology Group and Kirus Solutions. Prior to his involvement in those ventures, Steve enjoyed a varied experience over 25 years with IBM.

Bob Becker. An Area Manager for Prosperity Mortgage Company, Bob is responsible for a 100-person mortgage origination platform in northern Virginia and West Virginia. The company is a joint venture of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Long & Foster Realty, the largest privately owned real estate company in the country.

Don Carson. Radix Technologies, Inc., Mountain View, CA, and retired Lockheed Program Manager.

Larry Castle, Esq.. Castle, Meinhold & Stawiarski, LLC, Denver, CO.

Art Slattery. Partner, Phoenix Realty Group, Bedford, NH; Chairman of the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission; and recently District Vice President of ARELLO (Association of Real Estate Licensed Law Officials).


 
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© 2004 BHIF Relocation Group, Inc.