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Spotlight: TRED Properties
By Jacy Cochran  | | Jeff Burrell, Rich Drake and Jim Youngblood (l-r) accept an award from Ken Channell. | | They've known one another their whole lives. They grew up together. They went to kindergarten together. They played football and baseball together. They went into business together. And they have all become millionaires together. That's the story of Jim Youngblood, Jeff Burrell and Rich Drake in a nutshell. And today they owe their collective comfortable futures to HomeVestors of America, Inc. But things could have gone very differently for these Houston residents. The three longtime friends started off in college at Sam Houston State University. Then Drake left to join the Navy, Youngblood transferred to Texas A&M, and Burrell stayed put to finish school. There was a good chance the trio would never team up again. That all changed when Youngblood started investing in Houston real estate on his own in 1995. He needed money to buy houses, so he contacted Drake, who was stationed in Seattle and borrowed $25,000. Two months later, Youngblood paid back the loan with an additional $6,000 in interest. Drake was soon asking how he did it. In no time, Drake was buying houses in Seattle and by the time he got out of the Navy, the two friends had gone into business together in Houston. Their real estate success thrived as long as they had money to buy houses. So they contacted Burrell, who was working for an insurance company in Houston, and asked to borrow some money. The business continued to do well, and the twosome then became a threesome in a company they named Texas Real Estate Developments. "We were driving around and writing addresses down for boarded-up houses the old-fashioned way," Youngblood said. "The hard way," Drake added. But that's not how they operate today. Things drastically changed when Drake went to a fraternity party and ran into Brownie Lott, a franchisee for HomeVestors and the son-in-law of HomeVestors' late founder, Ken D'Angelo. "The next business day, Richard and I were on our way to Dallas to talk to Ken and discuss buying a franchise," Youngblood said. HomeVestors offered them the biggest thing they needed -- money -- to buy houses in big volume. "We would have signed up that day, but we had to wait 10 days by law before we could sign our Franchise Agreement." It was well worth the wait, considering the impact that HomeVestors had on their business and on the entire Houston market. "The first year that we bought houses on our own, we bought seven houses," Youngblood said. "The first year we joined HomeVestors, we bought 75 houses." In 1997 they became the first HomeVestors franchise in the Houston market, TRED Properties, and were named Rookie of the Year for the entire franchise network. Buying, rehabbing and selling houses was only the beginning. Since 2000, TRED Properties has accumulated over 300 rental properties and become a partial owner of two other HomeVestors franchises in Beaumont and San Antonio. They've worked hard to get to their level of success. "People just don't realize that there's a lot of background and homework that goes into our business," Drake said. "There's risk every time. It's not just buying and selling houses. They don't think of all of the little things that running a business entails." HomeVestors, however, provides a blueprint to follow. "Being with HomeVestors gives you the vehicle and information you need to be a successful investor in buying and selling properties," Youngblood said. "We plan on being with HomeVestors a long time." Just not in the office as much. Now, at 39, all three men are beginning to contemplate the easy life. With a solid franchise system in place, they are restructuring the home office where they currently employ 15 people so that one of the three owners can always be off at any given time. And they're enjoying the fruits of their labor and the greater brand awareness that 14 HomeVestors franchise locations have brought to the Houston area. "It's very exciting, because today there isn't one person in Houston that doesn't recognize UG or We Buy Ugly Houses," Youngblood said. "As far as buying houses, we have a lot more competition than we did ten years ago. We've helped increase our competition because everybody wants to do what we're doing. But HomeVestors still buys more houses than anybody else." . . . Jacy Cochran is an account executive for BizCom Associates, which provides public relations for HomeVestors of America.
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