HomeSmart International recently announced the company has exceeded the 10,000 agent mark in its United States-based franchises. The milestone comes off of several consecutive years of positive growth trends since the company first began franchising in 2009. Additionally, 77 percent of the franchises under the HomeSmart brand posted net positive agent growth numbers for 2015. As of March 31, the company stands at 10,130+ agents in 86 offices across 15 states.
“When I think back on how far we’ve come as company, it’s amazing to me that we started out with just two agents and a receptionist,” said Matt Widdows, chief executive officer and founder at HomeSmart International. “My No. 1 goal has always been to provide unmatched service and it is with that in mind that this company has grown and will continue to grow in the coming years.”
The ability to adapt its business model to the different markets HomeSmart franchises serve is an important contributor to the company’s recent growth.
“We believe the growth HomeSmart is seeing across our franchise system can be attributed to the adaptability of our model in any market for a variety of different brokerage types,” said Ashley Bowers, president and chief operating officer at HomeSmart International. “Additionally, we launched a new program last year which is designed to take the weight of agent recruiting off the individual broker by enabling our franchise support team to help brokers manage this aspect of their businesses.”
The abovementioned centralized services program HomeSmart International launched in February 2015 and involves comprehensive marketing, a fully staffed call center and agent hiring experts who are able to manage agent recruiting and support brokerage growth for individual franchisees. The voluntary program frees broker/owners up to focus more on helping agents grow their businesses. Currently, just less than 50 percent of all HomeSmart franchisees are participating at some level in the centralized services initiative.
HomeSmart International also launched an aggressive franchise sales and merger/acquisition campaign in the fourth quarter of 2015 as part of its overall growth strategy. Over the last six months, HomeSmart International has increased its office count by nearly 10 percent via franchise sales and new branch offices nationwide with several more slated to open throughout second quarter 2016.
“We’re committed to expanding the HomeSmart brand into new markets all over the U.S. and are doing so through a strategic combination of franchise sales, conversions, mergers and acquisitions,” said Bryan Brooks, senior vice president of franchise sales for HomeSmart International.
