I am selling my franchise for 38k.
I've owned and operated a HomeVestors franchise for 6 years. Prior to joining the system, I had completed 4 deals independently. I have now completed over 100. The franchise was my way to scale. I'm now moving into development and new construction, so I'm selling my franchise.
A new, full franchise is 80k. (HomeVestors will sell an "associate" franchise 40k but the royalties are much higher).
FAQ for folks considering the jump.
1. I've historically spent 10k per month in advertising. You should plan something similar if you're going to work at this full-time.
2. Additional overhead is minimal. 5k in startup costs is more than enough for your first few months.
3. You need at least 6 months of your salary and operating costs in the bank. A business is like a farm. The money and effort you put into the ground today won't produce a harvest tomorrow. This is not unique to HomeVestors. If you are planning to operate this business part-time and don't need to draw a salary at first, then you only need 6 months of advertising spend in the bank.
4. The best part about HomeVestors is the team approach. Territories are cooperative, not competitive. All advertising goes into a common pot and leads are distributed prorata. For example, if I advertise 10k in a month and the rest of the group advertises 90k (such that we collectively spent 100k on advertising), 10% of the leads will come to me. The more we collectively advertise, the bigger our collective reach and brand recognition, and the bigger our leg up when we get in front of customers.
5. The data gives you courage. Prior to joining the system, I could never have stomached spending 10k / month on marketing. But every franchisee sees every other franchisee's performance in real time and historically. The data is proprietary so you'll need to sign an NDA with the corporate office before you're allowed to see real numbers, but when I know that over time, on average, I'll earn Y by spending X... it gives me confidence to spend that money.
6. This is a sales job. You earn your profit margin by sitting at the kitchen table with a seller for whom something is more important than maximizing the amount of money they can get out of the sale of their property. Timing, privacy, ease, confidence in the transaction... it's your job to find out what matters to them and to provide it. You can outsource or hire for some of this, but if you're not fundamentally sold on the value of buying peoples' property at a discount in return for providing them the convenience and confidence of an as-is sale, this is not the business for you.
7. You can, of course, be a profitable real estate investor without operating a franchise. The franchise costs real money, both up front and in the percentage of your sales paid to the corporate office (these fees are known as "royalties" in the franchise world). Buying the franchise will not get you a passive money machine. While there are a significant number of operators who run teams of employees, most HV operators are solo-preneurs. I'd say, anecdotally, that most operators are just like me. They're folks who did a few real estate transactions on the side over the years, liked it, made money at it, and decided to pursue it full-time with a proven system. It's been a good run. If there were a "HomeVestors" for land and neighborhood development (the next phase of my real estate career), I'd strongly consider buying in.
Seriously Interested?
Contact me for more information. I'm not here to promote HomeVestors, so I probably won't engage in much further discussion on this board. If you're seriously interested, give me a holler. After that, I would connect you to a franchise development agent for mutual vetting. Cheers!
