Posted by randyOH on December 10, 2003 at 23:00:27:
nt
Homevestors franchise - Posted by Beaches
Posted by Beaches on December 10, 2003 at 13:45:18:
I am interested in anyone’s prospective or input on the Homevestors franchise? They appear to be doing very well but I would like to hear from someone who has investor experience.
Re: Homevestors franchise - Posted by Sean
Posted by Sean on December 10, 2003 at 15:05:36:
We have one here in Pittsburgh, haven’t worked with em much, they are realitively new… my opinion so far of them is they definately are paying too much for their properties on average… whatever formula they are teaching them at their franchise school is definately too high on average for my taste in this market.
They have Billboards up all over town, and at the REI meetings etc they are marketing their properties… most are too high asking to interest me. I don’t know what their franchise fee is…
Frankly I just don’t see them as major competition, I suppose if you are full time wholesaler you might have to worry, but my impression in my market is they are just one more player… and a relatively inexperienced one at that.
Their billboards haven’t stopped the steady calls to my marketing, or my web site, or prevented me from finding good deals in the least.
I fail to see the need to be a franchisee to wholesale junkers or work pretty houses… you don’t need big billboards to get people calling you… and you sure don’t need to pay someone a big fee for running a web site that takes submissions and processes emails etc…
That’s just my 2 cents.
Oh and don’t confuse LARGE OUTDOOR MEDIA CAMPAIGNS or RADIO CAMPAIGNS as a sign of success… large marketing expenditures are not indicative inately of success.
Re: Homevestors franchise - Posted by JT-IN
Posted by JT-IN on December 10, 2003 at 14:38:28:
Beaches:
Several of the franchises in local Cincy area are not doing well, from what I understand. I’m not sure if other areas are experiencing the same.
The front load cost to a franchisee for doing a deal is salty. I have a friend who is/was a franchisee, and have some first hand numbers… of their expenses, etc. They were constantly attempting to be profitable in spite of tremendous activity, due to the overhead.
If a person or group of persons committed themselves to being successful in this business, and spent half as much money on marketing that a homevestor franchisee spends, you couldn’t answer all the calls… and would make way more money, net… than they seem to. But then who would want to work that hard…?
Homevestor Franchises are great for someone who have no knowledge of RE and want to buy a job… which is exactly what you would get…
JT-IN
Marketing tips? - Posted by randyOH
Posted by randyOH on December 10, 2003 at 15:39:19:
Sean,
You seem to be doing very well. Would you mind telling us a little about your marketing? What has been working best for you?
Thanks,
Randy
Re: Homevestors franchise - Posted by Beaches
Posted by Beaches on December 11, 2003 at 09:26:23:
Thanks for the feedback on homevestors. I am looking to become an investors and was considering the Homevestors franchise. I am concerned about the operating expense and fees although the training would be very valuable. Any ideas on alternative ways to get started?
Thanks for the feedback on Homevestors.
Just like any other franchise - Posted by rm
Posted by rm on December 11, 2003 at 08:15:26:
Homevestor Franchises are great for someone who have no knowledge of RE and want to buy a job… which is exactly what you would get…>>
Re: Marketing tips? - Posted by Sean
Posted by Sean on December 10, 2003 at 16:32:09:
Randy,
Well keep in mind, I am not buying hundreds of houses or anything, but I am able to find product when I am ready to buy. I get roughly 2-3 sellers a week calling me, and 2-3 sellers contacting me a week on my web site… not by any stretch of the imagination large numbers… but more than enough for me to make the deals I want to make at this time. I also watch the MLS/REOs rabidly and look at anything that comes up remotely interesting and if it looks good I make sure I bid, and no I don’t get all of em, not even close, but the ones I get, I get on my terms.
My marketing really is nothing more than a web site, that advertises my properties for sale/rent… as well as allows sellers to submit their information for properties they are trying to sell, or if they are looking to buy, a form for them to submit as well, and a general contact form for others to contact us as well.
The only marketing we are doing at this point are a we buy houses ad in our weekly pennysaver, which has our web site address in it as well, as well as whatever marketing we need to do for houses for sale or houses or apartments for rent. All ads include our web site address, no matter what they are.
We chose the pennysaver to be the mainstay of our marketing for 3 reasons 1) cost, it is far cheaper to make sure our ad is in the pennysaver every week vs in the paper every day (of course that means we get less calls I am sure than people in the paper 7 days a week) and even more importantly 2) Geographical control… our ads are not city wide. You see in our city there are parts of town where you can buy houses in move in condition for 20k… and frankly those areas don’t interest me… they don’t have enough upswing to justify rehabbing, and they aren’t close enough to me to interest me in holding as rentals (while you definately can cashflow nicely there)… and when I have advertised in the paper I got lots of calls from those sorts of areas… which I am just not interested in. Yes, I could lock them up and pass them on, and I may do that in the future, but I try to keep the bulk of my activity as close to my home as possible at this time. and 3rd and finally, EVERYONE GETS ONE! Unlike the paper where only subscribers or purchasers get it, the pennysaver is something EVERYONE gets for free every week, and honestly almost everyone (regardless of income bracket) reads the thing. So weekly my ad(s) is(are) in front of everyone in the zip codes that I select.
Now one day I am rather certain I will likely be one of those 7 day a week guys, but honestly, with us, still personally screening calls ourselves, and only doing REI part time, I really don’t want to be innundated with properties I just know I am not going to be interested in. Word of mouth has definately been spreading about us and even with big homevestors outdoor marketing, and many other investors in the area… I have never felt that I just can’t get a deal or find something when actively looking.
However, I openly admit, my market is definately a great market to get your feet wet. The barrier to entry here is exceedingly low… and the supply of houses in need of attention is very high relatively speaking. No one could come in here and own the market… it just isn’t possible, there are just too many out there, literally.
Now please, keep in mind, I am no guru, I don’t play one on TV, and I am still learning and growing. I am just some schmuck who’s been slowly doing the REI game now for about 18 months… I am not setting the world on fire, nor breaking world records just going at the pace I am comfortable with. We have done 8 deals in that time, and are getting better with every one, we are starting to market for sellers, and have launched our web site… word of mouth is getting around etc.
Now, please don’t think its all been roses and things, its been a long and hard journey to this point, and it has been filled with moments of frustration, self doubt, and all the other emotions that come with it. It hasn’t gone as quickly or smoothly as we had planned when we started this, but it has been going in the right direction. Many of the assumptions we made were wrong, we have and still do make mistakes… there are times when we’ve wondered if what we are doing is right, going to pay off, worth it etc… but we haven’t quit, and continue to grow… In fact honestly right now we are struggling with the SALE side of the rehab business and working hard to get some of our inventory moved… but we know we’ll get through it and learn and make mistakes just like we did in the early acquisition side.
Re: Homevestors franchise - Posted by Nate(DC)
Posted by Nate(DC) on December 11, 2003 at 15:16:55:
I think the training you can get on this website is MORE valuable, and a heck of a lot cheaper.
In fact, for what you’d pay in Homevestors franchise fees for a year, I bet you could go to the annual CRE Online convention and have some of the most brilliant minds in the business showing you things, AND still have enough money left over to go do a deal.
NT
Pennysaver question - Posted by randyOH
Posted by randyOH on December 10, 2003 at 18:51:08:
Sean,
I am thinking about using the Pennysaver, too. I have seen several favorable comments here about it. Do you just run your ad in the RE for sale section? I don’t think they have a RE wanted section, do they?
Thanks for sharing,
Randy
Re: Marketing tips? - Posted by Shawn
Posted by Shawn on December 10, 2003 at 17:28:56:
Sean,
I’m a begining investor in UT. I have designed websites for years, mostly personal webpages, and one for a small homebased company in AZ.
If you’re willing to share, I would love to see how you have your site laid out. I’m working on a website to direct potential buyers/sellers in my area to. I would like to model my page after another that has been successful.
If you’re willing, I would like you to email me the link.
Thanks.
Re: Marketing tips? - Posted by Mike
Posted by Mike on December 10, 2003 at 17:08:43:
Sean, please email me your website address,
and where in Pittsburgh are you?
Re: Pennysaver question - Posted by Sean
Posted by Sean on December 10, 2003 at 21:43:43:
We run our properties for sale in the HOMES FOR SALE section, our properties rent to own in the HOMES FOR RENT section, Apartments in the APARTMENTS FOR RENT section, and our WE BUY HOUSES ad in the REAL ESTATE WANTED section.
Don’t know where you are, but here, 5 “areas” is around $30ish a week for a typical 3 line ad.
Web Site - Posted by Sean
Posted by Sean on December 11, 2003 at 08:04:13:
Not a real secret, web site is www.ez-own.com