Lake Homes Realty, RealSource soon to move into Meadow Brook 500 Building

Lake Homes Realty and sister company RealSource Title Insurance and Real Estate Closings today gave Hoover city and business officials a tour of their new home at Meadow Brook Corporate Park.

Just a little over a year ago, in February 2022, the companies announced plans to relocate their headquarters from the Southlake community in Hoover to the 500 Building at Meadow Brook Corporate Park.

The companies now are operating out of about 14,000 square feet in Southlake and 7,100 square feet of space they have been subleasing in the 1200 Building at Meadow Brook Corporate Park, and they are moving to almost 55,000 square feet at 500 Corporate Drive in Meadow Brook.

Lake Homes Realty and RealSource will take up 48,864 square feet of office space on the fourth and fifth floors of Building 500 as well as 5,881 square feet of studio space in the basement of the building.

The companies, which currently serve 34 states, now have about 77 employees (including 12 who work remotely) and will be moving the 65 in-house employees to Meadow Brook’s 500 Building by the end of this month, Lake Homes CEO Glenn Phillips said.

But the companies have big growth aspirations and plan to add 400 new jobs over the next four years, with 300 of those jobs at Meadow Brook Corporate Park, Phillips has said.

Lake Homes Realty has 203 contract real estate agents working exclusively for Lake Homes in 36 states, and RealSource is licensed to do business in 13 states and has offices across Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia, with additional growth planned.

The office at Meadow Brook will handle back office operations for the agents spread across the country, including accounting, marketing, social media and a call center (to be called a care center) for phone support, Phillips said.

Lake Homes Realty and RealSource signed a 10-year lease for the space and are spending about $1 million on the buildout and relocation, Phillips said. The 500 Building is owned by SDM Partners in Atlanta and is managed by Colliers International.

Hallmark Builders handled the buildout of the space, with Williams Blackstock Architects doing the design and Ai Corporate Interiors handling the interior design and furniture.

Phillips said Lake Homes Realty has come a long way from its start in just under 4,000 square feet in Pelham. He and his wife, Doris Phillips, who is chief operating officer of Lake Homes Realty and president of RealSource, probably could get by with 21,000 square feet of office space now, but they intentionally leased more space because of their growth expectations. They don’t want to have to move every three to four years or be split up among multiple buildings, he said.

They plan to make a big announcement within the next two months about a major growth move, he said.

While many large national real estate companies struggled during the past year or so and let go of many employees, Lake Homes Realty was able to maintain itself at a plateau because the lake home sector of the business is more recession-proof, Phillips said. People who buy lake homes are less impacted by a recession than other buyers in the standard residential real estate market, he said.

Phillips said he and his wife decided to keep their companies based in Hoover because they like the community and see it as a good place to live and do business.

They also were able to obtain an estimated $102,645 worth of tax abatements from the Hoover City Council in February of last year. With the growth expected, the total benefit to the city of Hoover over 10 years is expected to be more than $500,000, the company said.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, who was at today’s tour, said it’s always great to see a company grow up from a mom-and-pop-type business into a national business, and he’s thrilled Lake Homes Realty and RealSource have decided to stay and grow their business in Hoover.

Their decision to relocate to Meadow Brook Corporate Park fits nicely with the city’s plan to develop the U.S. 280 corridor into more of a hub for technology companies. That effort got a big boost when McLeod Software bought the 100 Building in Meadow Brook Corporate Park and renovated it for its use, and Lake Homes Realty and RealSource fit well into that vision as well, he said.

“Our goal is to offer a great quality of life for citizens who not only live in Hoover but those who choose to work in Hoover as well,” Brocato said.

Despite the challenging traffic on U.S. 280, there are a lot of incredible conveniences to working in the U.S. 280 corridor, such as the shopping and dining opportunities, he said.

It’s also great to have people like Glenn and Doris Phillips who want to give back to their community, Brocato said. Doris Phillips is the founder and president of The Circle of Love Foundation, which last year provided about 700 backpacks with school supplies for needy children in Birmingham-area shelters.

To find out more about Lake Homes Realty, RealSource and The Circle of Love Foundation, visit lakehomes.com, yourrealsource.com or thecircleoflove.org.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 5:55 p.m. with an updated number of contract real estate agents working exclusively with Lake Homes Realty. That number is 203 but still growing. An additional correction was made on March 10 to give the correct name for the company that owns the 500 Building as SDM Partners. A Lake Homes Realty press release gave a different name.