Real Estate Franchises

Buying and selling property is either most people's dream or their worst nightmare. Moving home is generally considered one of the most stressful things you can do, but getting money for other people moving home is highly appealing.

Most people hate estate agents, but there's a reason for that – they are successful at what they do and are business-minded.

But anybody looking to make the most of the high property prices and burgeoning real estate market in the U.S., will find that estate agencies, or real estate franchises, are often the way to go.

Franchising is certainly the most favored way for estate agents and businesspeople to get involved in the real estate market with minimum financial input. Financing your own property investment company can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but franchising uses the investment in a business to help make good returns on the market via other means.

In the U.S., arguably the fastest-growing estate agency franchise, ERA Franchise Systems LLC, has become successful thanks to the strong property market and the abundance of entrepreneurial businessmen and women in U.S. ERA was ranked No.43 in Top 500 Franchises 2007. (Entrepreneur.com) "Since its founding in 1971, ERA has helped homebuyers, sellers and renters with all their real estate needs. In addition to listing homes and providing other brokerage services, the company provides such special services as utility transfer, connection and disconnection."

The company has opened over 1,189 franchises since 2004, as increasing numbers of people looking to make a living from real estate take advantage of the opportunities franchising can bring.

These include financial security: a relatively small investment can help set up a business with excellent potential. Paying a franchisor to help start your business means a lot of the support you would not get on your own is readily available, from marketing to training and equipment supply.

Of course, in real estate, location is everything, and potential franchisees need to consider carefully whether investing in the market is a realistic goal if they cannot find a suitable location for their estate agency; key areas of growth in the UK are the south-east, London and the West Midlands.

But entrepreneurs will find they also need enthusiasm, sale skills, marketing ability, financial awareness and a basic knowledge of the housing market to be able to make the most of the opportunity and succeed in real estate franchising.