KANSAS CITY — United Country Real Estate has announced that United Country — Lake Palestine Real Estate of Flint finished the first half of this year in the top 10 percent of the company’s more than 600 offices.

“Even though the economy hasn’t quite normalized in some areas, we’ve focused on the things we can control, like providing outstanding customer ser- vice and superior marketing programs,” said owner and broker Dana Staples. “Combined with the tools our home office provides and plenty of hard work, this strategy has allowed us to not just survive in today’s market but to thrive. And we’re fortunate to be located in the beautiful hills, trees and lakes of East Texas.”

As of the second quarter, United Country — Lake Palestine Real Estate has earned the Diamond Award. It is one of fewer than two dozen offices in United Country’s nationwide network to earn the honor.

United Country Real Estate is the largest fully integrated franchise network of conventional and auction real-estate professionals in the U.S.

Headquartered in Kansas City, the company supports more than 600 offices across the U.S. and in Costa Rica with a comprehensive marketing program that includes one of the largest portfolios of property marketing Web sites, seven proprietary real-estate catalogs with a cumulative distribution of 1.5 million readers, an extensive buyer database and national advertising of properties that reaches more than 90 million homes per week.

United Country has been recognized by Dun and Bradstreet’s AllBusiness. com, The Land Report, Entrepreneur and The Wall Street Journal as one of the top U.S. real estate franchises.

United Country — Lake Palestine Real Estate can be reached at 903-825-1905 or danastaples@uclakepalestine. com.