HOWARD HANNA REAL ESTATE SERVICES
Founded in 1957 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has been ranked the No. 1 family-owned and -operated brokerage in the country.
“We are the nation’s largest privately owned real estate brokerage business,” says Tom Schoeller, senior vice president of franchising, mergers and acquisitions at Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. “We speak with brokerages that complement both our current footprint and target expansion markets.”
The company stresses that select consideration will be given for qualified, growth-oriented brokerages to establish protected territories as an exclusive franchise partner. They can then expand or build their own asset with the support of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, a current market leader in dozens of markets throughout the Northeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.
“We provide a unique franchise system that is fully integrated with the same tools, programs and events utilized by the top real estate brokerage businesses in the U.S.,” notes Schoeller. “If approved, you and your sales associates will be beneficiaries of our cutting-edge tech stack, and access to proprietary tools and programs utilized by an established market leader.
“We provide exceptional value for full-service brokerage businesses and highly competitive compensation based on performance,” adds Schoeller.
The company will continue to evolve and support its agents in 2023 and beyond. Business models and branding options will continue to change as time goes on, but Howard Hanna Real Estate Services remains steadfastly committed to putting people first.
“Our team is dedicated to providing the highest level of professionalism for our colleagues, clients and communities,” says Schoeller. “We are constantly reevaluating our powerful business development programs to provide the best opportunities to our agents and staff, to allow them to remain among the best of the best.”
Fast Facts
- The company supports agents with marketing and exclusive learning systems as well as strong lead-generation and career-development programs.
- With a 65-year history, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services continues to reevaluate its performance to remain on the cutting edge.
JOHN L. SCOTT REAL ESTATE
Founded in 1931 and headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, John L. Scott Real Estate operates over 100 offices with 3,000-plus agents in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California.
“One of the big differentiators with a company like ours is that we’re not only a franchise operation and not only a company-owned operation,” says Howard Chung, vice president of John L. Scott Real Estate Affiliates.
“We’re basically the best of both worlds,” says Chung. “We’ve got a leader, Lennox Scott, who is involved in the real estate business every single day. He does a great amount of communication and research about the economy, jobs and more.”
That all plays well in the company’s operation, but also spills over to its affiliates. And while today’s consumers want options, the firm is seeing the rise of the team franchise.
“With existing teams, they want to be the top-selling team, so if you’re an existing owner, we’re offering these team-franchise solutions that make a lot of sense. We’re a company for producing agents, whereas other firms, their average agent might have four, five or six sales. We’re up to the 12/13 range per agent,” says Chung. “We can increase the average transaction count, which is going to be so important moving forward. We don’t want to just sell franchises. We want to help a best-practices process for having productive agents, so we’ve been very methodical about where we want to expand.”
Even with rising interest and mortgage rates, there are still going to be buyers and sellers and real estate transactions—and John L. Scott takes the approach that it’s important to be with a company that has enough support and drive to create even more transactions per agent.
“So many of the failing or struggling operations are where leadership development wasn’t focused enough,” says Chung. “We pride ourselves on that development, in addition to technology and sales strategies. The next generation of real estate professionals wants leadership. We understand the entire operational process as a leader. Our culture means having a core value. That’s what attracts agents. In times of market fluctuations, you need visionaries and leadership that stand behind the core value.”
Fast Facts
- With a support team working on company initiatives, franchisees don’t have to figure it all out on their own.
- Company-owned operations account for about 60% of the firm’s agents, with 40% among franchises.
JPAR® – REAL ESTATE
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Frisco, Texas, JPAR® – Real Estate now serves 25 states after a national expansion initiative began in 2019.
“We lead with listening to turn great ideas into action to make the transaction process more seamless for owners, agents and their clients,” explains Laura O’Connor, president and COO of JPAR Franchising. “We were built by top producers, and our senior leadership and most of our core team members have owned brokerages, so we understand what it means to be active in the real estate space but also make that leap to affiliate with a brand to try and grow quicker. So we always have that focus when crafting our strategy.”
JPAR® – Real Estate’s agility in reacting to market shifts, and its proven agent count growth after affiliation, differentiate it from other companies, along with its compliance offering and back-office support.
While many other brands are focused on expanding their footprint through new franchise sales, JPAR® – Real Estate equally divides its efforts to support the growth of existing affiliates into new markets while still pushing to expand its presence through new affiliations.
“We started adjusting back in January 2022 with training for our owners on how to lead through market shifts; we worked with them on cash flow and building recruiting and merger and acquisition plans that they could implement as soon as they saw the market slow,” notes O’Connor. “We’ve always been focused on profitability as a brand so we don’t have waste that needs to be addressed in rapid shocks to the organization.
“On the profit side, we have a lot of positive momentum. Smart team leaders and top producers put away for a rainy day and know that the best time to start their brokerage is during a slower market. And our model is especially attractive to agents who are paying a higher split and trying to figure out how to keep more money when they are receiving fewer commission checks,” adds O’Connor.
JPAR® – Real Estate is in a fortunate spot because they’re a newer player, so it’s easier to adapt. While the company opened its first franchise offices in 2019, its leadership team is made up of individuals with decades of experience, with a focus on creating local-level solutions by having open pathways to senior leadership.
Fast Facts
- Because of the length of time and experience of leadership at JPAR® – Real Estate, the firm sensed that the wild pandemic ride wouldn’t last forever and took a proactive approach to the development of its people as well as expense control.
- The company offers full service and support in addition to a comprehensive technology suite for a low flat fee.
NEXTHOME
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Pleasanton, California, NextHome lauds its community of 5,200-plus “NextHomies” and the highly individual way they choose to do business.
“In the eight years since our inception, we’ve become one of the largest franchises in the U.S. by footprint,” says James Dwiggins, CEO of NextHome. “The support we offer our members is the driving reason why we continue to grow at the rate we do. Partnering with us means you can focus on the things that grow your business while we’ll take care of the rest.”
The company offers a completely integrated end-to-end tech stack that allows brokers to focus on their business instead of chasing down, keeping track of and teaching agents the newest technologies.
“There is a reason why we boast a 70%-plus adoption rate of our NextHome products and services,” explains Dwiggins. “Over the years, we have built trust with our members when rolling out products. We strive to be transparent about what we plan to roll out next, how new programs will integrate with existing tools, what gaps they might fill, what challenges we might face, and how members can participate.”
With NextHome, your business can take on pretty much any shape and size you wish. This is what sets it apart—the flexibility it offers. With one-year and five-year franchise agreements, and zero requirements on office size or agent count, the NextHome model supports large brick-and-mortar offices, smaller virtual offices and everything in between. Additionally, agents can cap their franchise fees by paying a monthly fee, or they can choose to pay a percentage of their commission when they close a deal.
“At NextHome, we’re not adjusting as much as we’re accelerating,” adds Dwiggins. “Our model was designed for a market like this. As you reevaluate your business with the changing times, you need to be more efficient financially and structurally. By affiliating with us, you can join a national network of over 600 franchise locations and 5,000-plus members, save money on tech, marketing and advertising while increasing your production and recruiting capabilities.”
Fast Facts
- The company has been named the No. 1 franchise in the U.S. in owner satisfaction by Franchise Business Review two years running across all franchise categories.
- NextHome did almost 37,000 transactions last year worth almost $12 billion in volume.
