Donnie Coker had been buying homes with his business partner, Missy McDonald, and he was looking to buy a franchise of some sort.
So Coker's gravitation toward HomeVestors of America made sense.
"In today's world, I think it's important to have credibility," Coker said of his reason for purchasing HomeVestors' franchise rights for this area. "I felt like I had more control over this type of business."
The Dallas-based company, well known for its billboards announcing "We Buy Ugly Houses!," buys, rehabs and sells properties through its 260 franchised offices nationwide. According to the company's Web site, it plans to have 500 franchised offices by 2010.
As the company's franchise owner for a territory that includes Bay, Gulf, Franklin, Calhoun and Washington counties, Coker said he and McDonald have purchased close to 80 homes since March.
Coker's 1,700-square-foot office is located on Jenks Avenue, and he said most of his purchases have been in town.
"We haven't bought hardly anything on the beach," Coker said.
The "ugly" in "We Buy Ugly Houses" refers more to the position of the seller than the appearance of the seller's home, Coker said. The company buys and sells homes to new owners at a discount, buys homes and keeps them for rental purposes, or buys and sells homes to investors, he said.
Many of the homes Coker has fixed up have been vacant for up to three years, he said, and he acknowledged the housing market is quite different than in recent years.
"Now, you may be able to buy more houses, but your profit margin is slim," he said.
The Panama City HomeVestors office has a buyer that evaluates houses and makes offers to potential sellers, Coker said.
Coker said the office looks at, on average, about eight to 10 homes a week. He said the discount offered to sellers varies from home to home and depends on the home's condition and its location.
"We don't pressure people. If they don't want to sell a house to us, we tell them we understand," Coker said.
Coker said as a licensed Realtor, he looks for investors and handles more of the office's work on the sales end of the business.
The office also employs a crew of painters, carpenters and refurbishes to fix up the homes.
