The Homevestors guys I know are currently buying mostly REOs, as the availability of private sellers with equity is nearly non-existent (compared to a couple years ago, that is).So, I imagine these guys are getting very little value out of their Homevestors franchises, despite their franchise requirements to spend large amounts of money on advertising/marketing.

There are national franchise companies like ReMax and Century 21 and they have many, many offices.

RedBox doesn't franchise but I've found a couple other companies that do.

So, whether or not you have an LLC is irrelevant for the tax questions.In either case, you'll need a partnership return, then each of the partners will move their parts of the profits or losses to their personal returns.IIRC, CA charges an $800/year franchise fee for LLCs.I'd be DANG SURE I had a detailed, written document describing how the partnership would work before I did any deal with partners.

Oil and natural gas are biggies here--but we've also been blessed by major downtown development: a new NBA franchise, a convention/restaurant/entertainment hub around our new Riverwalk, a new and expanding Dell facilitiy, Tinker Air Force Base, etc.

Has anyone had experience investing in a real estate brokerage startup like Help-u-Sell, Keller Williams, or otherwise. These seem like great investments, good or bad housing market.

I'm in franchise sales.

I should mention that I was recommended this book by a gentlemen I am working with who is a franchise consultant, and he recommended it for the vision, not for the mechanics.

Also don't just go on the franchiser name one franchiser in my area has 10 different offices that thay have sold franchises to.

Hello Robin,First off - Welcome to the forums and welcome to the world of real estate.So, if I may let me ask a question: Are you going to the major franchise offices such as C21 and Prud etc.