Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005

 

Assist-2-Sell surpasses 500 franchises

Assist-2-Sell, North America's largest residential discount real estate company, has surpassed its goal of more than 500 owner-operated franchises — five months ahead of schedule. Assist-2-Sell added 14 franchises in July 2005, bringing the current total to 516.

The company's previously announced total of 497 franchises at the end of June 2005 was readjusted to 502 due to more additions immediately before July's increase.

"Steady, strong demand from home sellers and new franchise owners has made us even more of a major player in the industry," Assist-2-Sell founders and co-owners Mary LaMeres-Pomin and Lyle E. Martin said in announcing the latest totals. "We're no longer a little company, and our home sellers like that fact."

The 18-year-old company expects to surpass 700 franchises by the end of 2006, and it projects at least 1,000 by the fourth quarter of 2008, said Ryan Elliott, Assist-2-Sell national franchise sales director. Assist-2-Sell sold its first franchise in the mid-1990s, and it had several dozen by 2000. As the total approached 200 in late 2002, Assist-2-Sell forecast it would reach 500 by the end of 2005.

"Increasing numbers of our sellers and franchise owners are telling us what we've already known — that we've become an incredible force in the industry," LaMeres-Pomin and Martin said.

During 2004, sellers saved a record $165 million using Assist-2-Sell's "Full Service with $avings" process, which enables them to save thousands of dollars in commissions compared to paying 6 percent. Assist-2-Sell franchises provide the services of a professional real estate broker for a low flat fee.

LaMeres-Pomin and Martin also announced the 14 new franchises added in July 2005. They are: Brea, Calif.; Greenwich, Conn.; East Pembroke Pines-Miramar, New Port Richey, North Sarasota, Nokomis, and Oakland Park, Fla.; St. Louis, Mo., in the Creve Coeur-Olivette area; Hamilton Square, N.J.; Toledo, Ohio; Cottage Grove, Ore.; Alexandria, Va.; and Ferndale, and Seattle, Wash., in the Kent area.

Assist-2-Sell is able to charge low fees thanks to its high-volume system, backed by an experienced team of real estate professionals that handles everything from advertising and showing the home to overseeing the closing process. The local Assist 2 Sell office is located in Peachtree City at 111 Petrol Point.