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Houston franchisees give new meaning to the lunch meeting
By Monica Feid  There's a Hooters restaurant in Houston that buzzes with ugly house activity at lunchtime every Tuesday. It has become a standing appointment for several area HVA franchisees to get together each week, chat about their businesses and chow down on some hot wings. Oh, and these guys also find time to buy and sell houses to each other.
These Houston franchisees have hit on something hot that involves more than just the wings. What began as an informal bull session four years ago has developed into some serious business between friendly franchisees looking to help each other as well as themselves on any given week.  | | Jim Youngblood | | "It's all fun," said Jim Youngblood, Texas Real Estate Development Properties (TRED), in Houston. Of course he would say that. He once sold five houses at lunch and walked away with more than $60,000 in cash! What's not fun about that? Youngblood quickly pointed out that was an exception, but business seems to be constant nonetheless. "I would say a couple of houses get sold every month," Youngblood continued. And the lunch deals work both ways. "We've (TRED) bought just as many houses as we've sold," he said. How did this meeting…um, lunch…get so hot? For the 8 to 12 people who show up from as many as five franchise locations, talking about business simply transitioned into doing business. One day somebody just asked if anyone had some houses they wanted to unload, and a formula was born. It made perfect sense, so the guys started bringing their inventory lists each week.  | | Ross Klingberg | | "If I can buy from them direct, it's the easiest kind of deal there is," said Ross Klingberg, Asset Enterprises, who has been going to the lunches for a couple of years. Youngblood explained, "If one franchisee has excess inventory but low cash flow, there's usually someone at the table who has excess cash and needs some ugly houses." Mark Zimmerman, LMK Investments, said, "I've probably bought five or six houses over the last four years." When his office was in The Woodlands, a Houston suburb, it meant a one hour drive to and from lunch and time to eat. "It was three-and-a-half hours each Tuesday," said Zimmerman, who has since moved his office closer to the lunch site. But regardless of the location, the weekly get-together has always been worth it for him.  | | Mark Zimmerman | | "My attitude is if I buy one house a year, I've paid for a year's worth of lunches," Zimmerman explained. It also helps that everyone gets along. These lunches have built a camaraderie that no formal meeting would accomplish. "We like the other franchisees," Youngblood said. "So we don't get caught up counting other people's money." Klingberg agreed. "Each year, I end up with two or three properties that I hear about at that lunch," he said. "I just strike while the iron's hot. Whenever they give me the opportunity, I just throw out a number." At one lunch, Klingberg said a franchisee had a "waste case," but it was a house that actually interested him. A pseudo-auction was held at the lunch table, and Klingberg went back and forth with numbers. The house was sold to Klingberg in less than five minutes. He later turned around and sold it to one of his investors. The so-called waste case ended up being a good deal for both the selling and buying franchisees. Zimmerman added, "You're more likely to talk about opportunities at lunch than sit down at your computer and type out an e-mail to everyone." There's no pressure to make these deals happen. For these guys, it's just a nice sidebar to the old theory: Let's do lunch. "It's part of my Dig Lead Program," Klingberg joked. But all joking aside, these franchisees said other HVA franchisees in developed markets should consider doing the same thing. Whether it's cash flow or houses that you need, chances are there's another franchisee in the market who may hold the answer. And the deal could be done by the end of lunch! . . . Monica Feid of BizCom Associates handles public relations services for HomeVestors and its franchisees.
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