HomeVestors of America, Inc. is an American

privately owned A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

investing franchisor. It is independently owned and operated franchisees buy homes in need of repair and homes that owners need to sell more quickly than usually can be done through a realtor. Franchisees usually renovate and sell or rent the homes. The company operates in 45 states with over 1000 franchises and growing. The firm is headquartered in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Currently David Hicks is CEO and President of HomeVestors.

History

Real estate agent Ken D'Angelo founded HomeVestors of America in 1996 and began

franchising Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...

that same year. By the end of that year, it had 17 franchisees and generated about $800,000 in revenue. It also sold its 25,000th house, in Jonesboro, GA. Franchisees hold the homes for six months on average. 1997 In 1997, HomeVestors reached 30 franchises with $1.7 million in revenue. 2003 By 2003, HomeVestors had grown to 135 offices in 17 states. In February 2004, the company signed an agreement with

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

, making the hardware company its official provider of building materials. 2004 In July 2004, the company launched a real estate-owned (REO) program. HomeVestors purchased single-family houses from its franchisees and called them "ugly notes". They were then sold to third party note purchasers. By the end of 2004 the firm had moved to a larger headquarters. A new mascot was launched, “UG” the Caveman. The company added an additional advertising slogan, "UG Buys Ugly Houses," and both mascot and slogan appeared on new billboards and TV commercials. In 2004, Ken D'Angelo was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and in September 2004 national franchise consultant John Hayes took over as president and CEO. D'Angelo died on January 8, 2005. 2007-2009 After the slowdown in housing sales due to the United States

sub-prime mortgage crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline in US home prices after the coll ...

, the firm marketed its services to financially distressed home owners who were facing foreclosures and looking for a quick sale. Holding company Franchise Brands LLC acquired majority interest of the firm on June 11, 2008. 2017 On February 7, 2018, HomeVestors purchased its 85,000th house since its incorporation in 1996. . HomeVestors passed hands again on April 27, 2017, when it was purchased by the Los Angeles-based private equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners and Management.

Proprietary Tools

The company provides franchisees with a proprietary software system, ValueChek, to evaluate single-family homes for repair costs and after-repair market value of a property. The firm, in conjunction with Local Market Monitor, maintained a set of "Best Markets to Invest in Rental Property" rankings, to forecast expected performance of rental properties, particularly

single-family homes A stand-alone house (also called a single-detached dwelling, detached residence or detached house) is a free-standing residential building. It is sometimes referred to as a single-family home, as opposed to a multi-family residential dwelling ...

Criticism

According to a 2023 investigation by

Propublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...

, many HomeVestors franchisees "used deception and targeted the elderly, infirm and those so close to poverty that they feared homelessness would be a consequence of selling." The company said in response that such deals represent a small share of all transactions.

Awards

On October 15, 2018, Franchising Times again named HomeVestors the "third fastest-growing franchise in America."

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Company Website for buying houses

Official Company Website for franchising
Real estate companies established in 1989 Franchises Real estate services companies of the United States Companies based in Dallas American companies established in 1989