I have reserved 6 domain names.
Some use "home", some "homes", some "real-estate".
Some have hyphens.
What are the best words to use given they are
available.
ie., is (town)-REAL-ESTATE.COM better than
REAL-ESTATE-(town)-HOMES-LA.COM?

How about: WESTSIDE-HOMES-LOSANGELES
.COM? (I own it.)
As mentioned in a previous post, are using hyphens better than not?
Thanks!

depends on the intent of having these names. Are you reselling them?

There are two distinct markets when using the internet, one being your normal local service area, and the second being everything else. Your website domain name for your local market viewers should be short and recognizable using local attributes. These viewers are going to type in your address after having seen it in print. Everything elese is a toss up because viewers are largely there through links, whose text is typically different than the address.

I don't plan to resell these.
My understanding is you want to use
words that people use to search by...homes,home,
real estate, MLS, realty, etc...Is that
the case? If so, shouldn't I have those in my
internet name and then use the easier one (my
name) over the phone and w/marketing materials?

If your not reselling, then reread my last post as it becomes more applicable.

The more general your site, the larger the competitive field, and the larger your costs of moving upward toward the idylic position of top search results page. Irrespective of what your domain name is. On the other hand, specialization allows you to carve out a market utilizing unique content which tends to have less resistance (competition) to boiling upwards.

Domain names are hugely important, but if it's not off top of mind, then it'll not be sought.

You can still garner reasonable traffic however, but it will be through content and link association. With that said, advertising your domain name that describes local attributes, will have your local market curious to it's offerings.

try to keep it simple an sweet most people won't remember anything over 2 words,all the successfull companies dell.com,google.com.,godaddy.com these are easy words that can be remembered and passed on during dinner conversations or everywhere else.

Long domains are hard to remember and people usually misspell them,then you have your traffic going to a squatters site.

Thanks!
The Ad name is easy. Just myname realty or realtor or sells or homes. These are all available also.
The internet name seems a bit more difficult to figure out. As I said I am reserving domain names now so I'll have them when I'm ready to build a website. I am trying to reserve all I can with homes,homes, real estate,realty, and all the areas I work in which is about 3-6 well known areas in Southern Cali.