House Doctors featured in Washington Examiner

House Doctors was recently featured in an article in The Washington Examiner entitled, “There are still a lot of properties available to rehabilitate – but finding them can be a challenge.” The article discusses the difficulty of finding a “fixer-upper” to live in or fix up and then resell, and gives advice to first-time home buyers looking to avoid bad investments. Hugh Sutherland weighs in as owner/operator of House Doctors in Northern Virginia and an investor in rehab properties, explaining that foreclosures and short sales need love and attention in order to become liveable for families on a budget. He explains the drop in house-flippers and investors like himself, and says that instead, families are moving into these homes. This article will provide some great exposure for House Doctors in metro DC, and should generate some local interest in fixing up homes, and who to call when one wants to take on these kinds of projects. A portion of the article is included below and it can be read in its entirety by clicking here.

There are still a lot of properties available to rehabilitate – but finding them can be a challenge
By: Deborah Huso

Finding a fixer-upper to flip, or to live in for a time and then resell later for a profit, is not as easy as scanning the real estate listings.

“Some properties may fit fixer-upper categories in the buyer’s eye, but not be listed that way by the seller,” said Jonathan Hill, president of RealEstate Business Intelligence in Rockville, a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems.

The seller or the seller’s agent may want to avoid what they perceive as a negative moniker.

That said, it is not surprising there are more of these properties on the market in the D.C. metro area these days — and that more of them are selling. RBI’s figures from April to September this year show 997 fixer homes sold in the District and surrounding areas, including the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland. That’s a jump from the 650 to 750 sold during the same periods from 2005 to 2008.

(Read More)

House Doctors featured in Atlanta Home Improvement

House Doctors' Jarid Kossen was recently featured in Atlanta Home Improvement’s Expert Q&A in October. The Q&A is over the topic of winterizing the home and Jarid give’s some tips on how homeowners can do simple things to make sure their home is weatherized for the winter. The article can be seen in PDF format below:

HouseDoctors.AtlantaHomeImprovement.10.01.10

House Doctors' Fast Start Program: What You Need to Know Before Opening

You buy into the concept, you go through the discover process, then you sign a franchise agreement, what’s next?

Many new franchisees can be intimidated about exactly how to get the ball rolling. They’ve bought the rights to their very own franchise and now it’s up to them to open up shop and be successful doing it.House Doctors understands this can be an overwhelming process and has spent many years perfecting the system, processes and procedures required for getting franchisees up and running without missing a beat.

Through their Fast Start program, House Doctors provides as much of a turnkey operation as possible and partners with each new franchisee through opening their new location and throughout the first year (The Academy to be discussed in a later post). With the support of their Franchise Support Manager, and everyone at the House Doctors home office, franchisees complete a 125-point checklist of items necessary to accomplish to ensure success, but not only complete the checklist, complete it in the right order. This support includes Business Planning, Budgeting, Market Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Securing Business Licenses and more. House Doctors takes a vested interest in each one of its franchisees careers.

House Doctors also provides new franchisees what’s called an “Initial Package.” As part of a franchisee’s investment into House Doctors, they receive an initial package which includes everything they need to have a complete, professional brand image right off the bat including uniforms, the appropriate technology and software, marketing materials, website development and maintenance.

So although you may be off to the races, the benefit of working with House Doctors is that you won’t be alone. You’ll benefit from House Doctors’ 15+ years of experience operating 175+ locations nationwide to back you.

House Doctors tells MainStreet.com how to winterize homes

House Doctors was featured in an article and slideshow on MainStreet.com entitled, “How to Winterize Your Home.” The article discusses different ways to winterize your home and provided very useful tips for people at home looking to make these changes and cut costs. Check out a portion of the article below or read the full story here.

How to Winterize Your Home
By Jeanine Skowronski

With Halloween approaching and Thanksgiving not far behind, homeowners need to start preparing their houses for winter weather. After all, advance preparations can save money, preserve energy and increase safety as you transition into the winter months.To help you and your home weather the inevitable storms, MainStreet consulted the experts to find out what homeowners should do before the temperature drops drastically.

(Read More)

The Academy: Support through Your First Year

By Jarid Kossen, Manager of Franchise Development

It’s been proven by our business model that the first year of proper operation should set up your business to double in size. That’s great growth potential if you do things right! House Doctors has been in business for 12 years so we are confident that our processes and procedures will help franchisees grow to their fullest potential. We’ve established benchmarks and best practices that will lead new franchisees to success.

Because operation in the first year of business sets the mold for everything thereafter, House Doctors takes this first year extremely seriously and partners with franchisees to guide them through in a program called “The Academy."

The House Doctors home office ensures all checks and balances are in place by doing monthly financial reviews with new franchisees, comparisons of budgets, reviews customer comments, etc. The They use system-wide benchmarks from top performing franchisees to ensure that new franchisees ramp up quickly and generate the highest return on investment. The Academy Program is designed to ensure that new franchisees lay a strong foundation in their first 12-18 months so that can build a solid profitable business from the start and ultimately yield the highest return when they wish to sell the business.

Franchisee Profile: Steve Cranford

Franchisee Since: 2002

Franchise Location: The Triad area of Greensboro, Winston and High Point

How Steve Cranford Got Started With House Doctors…

Steve’s experience in the home improvement industry goes back to the 1970’s to help work his way through college. Even as a kid, he got some experience in handyman work when he helped his dad’s cousin who was a professional handyman do a variety of jobs. Shortly after college graduation, Steve went to work in the construction industry for the next 20+ years. He got a broad view of the construction industry and noticed that there was more service repair work than true construction. He loved the pace of that niche. In the early 2000’s, the economy took a dip and Steve had to find a new career opportunity. Surveying his past experience and understanding more about his passions, he knew entrepreneurship was something he wanted to pursue and the time was now. The only thing holding him back was getting started, finding the customers, having to market the business, etc. So he looked into franchising to find support that would help him get up and running quicker. After doing research across the industry, Steve landed on House Doctors and opened up in 2002.

Over the past eight years, Steve's franchise has shown consistent and steady growth, and that has been by design. He is committed to growing the business to be the premier handyman and home improvement business in the Triad area. However, as the business grows, he wants to be sure that the company is always able to meet the customer's demands with a team of qualified people. He is constantly looking for new team members that are dedicated to providing the exceptional service and professionalism that defines House Doctors. His approach appears to be working, as he expects 2010 to be a record year despite the national economic downturn.

What Intrigued Steve Cranford about House Doctors …

Steve appreciates the vision of House Doctors’ executive team and the desire to make House Doctors the #1 franchise in its industry segment. Over the years, House Doctors has implemented great improvements and changes. The support is also top-notch. Steve says that the team is always there when you need them; they are willing to help out and put together all the information or materials you may need.

Something Interesting About Steve Cranford ‘s Story…

Steve is married and has three daughters and one granddaughter with a grandson on the way. His wife works at the local hospital. Steve is very active within his community: with his church and on the board of the local YMCA chapter. In his free time, there’s nothing more Steve would rather do they play golf.

Where specifically did Steve Cranford learn about House Doctors?

Steve learned initially of the franchise through an ad in a local magazine. In 2002 the Internet was not as robust as it is now, so although he checked out the Web, it wasn’t a huge aid to him. After seeing the ad and doing some initial research, he made a call to House Doctors, and eventually made a trip to Cincinnati to meet with the executive team and see the operations first hand. He talked with several franchisees for validation. Finally, Steve studied the demographics in his area to evaluate what would be possible.