HomeVestors Launches New Associate Franchise Concept to Allow Smaller Entry Fee to Part Time Franchisees
By Mark Adkins, Business Opportunities Journal. November/December, 2008.
Dallas-based HomeVestors® of America, Inc., has more than 220 franchises throughout the United States and has been franchising since 1996. But now the company has introduced a new concept in its franchising model: the “associate franchise.”
HomeVestors, well known for its trademark “We Buy Ugly Houses” billboards, announced that it has awarded its first associate franchise to Scott Arnold of Dallas, Texas. HomeVestors® trains and supports franchisees who specialize in buying homes in need of repair.
The associate franchise program provides franchisees many of the benefits shared by full-time franchisees including mentorship and training programs, but is distinguished by a lower-franchise fee, less overhead, and flexibility for associate franchisees to keep their full-time jobs while operating their HomeVestors franchise from home.
“This marks a new era for HomeVestors and for franchising,” said John Hayes, president and CEO of HomeVestors. “Companies must continually look for innovative ways to grow their services and their market share, all while helping the customers who need them most. The associate franchise program will do just that.”
In addition to being able to maintain other careers and operate from home, associate franchisees can buy fewer properties than full-time franchisees.
Arnold, a real estate broker in Dallas for more than five years who has purchased four houses on his own as an independent investor, had previously considered the HomeVestors franchise opportunity.
“I’ve always been interested in the business,” Arnold said. But Arnold, among other concerns, did not want to agree to a commitment to make HomeVestors a full-time occupation with additional employees and overhead. In the associate franchise program, Arnold saw the opportunity for which he had been waiting.
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PHOTO: (Left to Right) Scott Arnold, the first associate franchisee for HomeVestors, John Hayes, HomeVestors president and CEO, and John Cantleberry and Chas Carrier, of C&C Residential Properties, Inc.
