Pittsburgh Realtors® touting city’s ‘rave’ reviews

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The Realtors® Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh (RAMP) and local media have teamed up to get the word out that Pittsburgh is a great place to live.

RAMP is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and it has taken the opportunity to approach various media to sponsor ads touting the city’s positive national rankings.

Two major sponsors, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Comcast Spotlight, have agreed to donate more than $200,000 in free advertising space, air time and web space.

“Our local media began to recognize that using national real estate stories didn’t portray the positive local real estate market in Pittsburgh,” RAMP Executive Vice President Jim Bindschadler said. “This area has been successful in retooling our economy from a steel town to one that’s known for finance, technology education and health care.”

The association has been marketing its positive story over the last several years, according to Joi Rogers, RAMP’s marketing director. This year’s campaign continues the association’s efforts to spread the word about Pittsburgh. Last year alone, national news outlets ranked Pittsburgh:

• Best place to buy a home (Forbes magazine)
• 7th best place to raise a family (Forbes magazine)
• 12th easiest U.S. city for job seekers (Juju.com)
• 4th most literate cities (Central Connecticut State University)
• 4th most improving housing market (Bloomberg and Businessweek.com)
• 8th best city for single women (Singlemindedwomen.com)
• America’s Most Livable City (Forbes magazine)
• 8th top time-saving city (Real Simple)
• 13th in the top 50 global eco-friendly cities (Eco-City Ranking).

“Advertising Pittsburgh’s national rankings is good for the entire region,” Rogers noted. “Our media partners agree that in the long run, everyone benefits from promoting the fact that Pittsburgh’s a great place to live.”

RAMP President Kevin Brown said the association’s anniversary is a great time to highlight the stability of Pittsburgh’s market, while showcasing how Realtors® are dedicated to helping their communities. “Our anniversary and the coverage the Pittsburgh real estate market has had nationally have made it easy to convince media outlets to tell this story,” he said.

In celebration of the centennial, RAMP is organizing four opportunities for Realtors® to give back to the community through a blood drive, a food drive, a Habitat for Humanity build and a coat collection for Project Bundle Up. “Each of these activities gives our members a chance to get involved,” Brown added.