Oct. 15, 2008 Edition

HVA Announces "Ugliest House Of The Year" Finalists

National online voting runs through Nov. 15 By Leah Templeton One  "Ugly House" finalist was discovered in Atlanta. No one knows ugly houses better than HVA franchisees, and the top ten finalists for the Second Annual Ugliest House of the Year contest do HomeVestors proud. Thanks to strong participation from Team HVA, more than 50 ugly houses were entered in this year's contest. An HVA Steering Committee then narrowed the field to the 10 ugliest properties. Now the houses in this “un-beauty” pageant are in front of the nation to select the ugliest three. Franchisees and HVA employees can join the public in voting online through Nov. 15 at  ugliesthouse.com. The winner will announced Dec. 3 at the Annual Convention. This year's 10 finalists for the Ugliest House of the Year contest are: Ann Mullikin of ABC Home Services in Richmond, VA Eddie Gant of Advantage House Buyers in Houston, TX Ian Mendelson of Allied Property Group in Atlanta, GA Nick and Jessica Cifaldi of Cifaldi Property Investments in Philadelphia, PA J.D. Asbell of CityScape Properties in Kansas City, KS Sheila Konecke of K2NC in Washington, D.C. Victoria McKune of Kingsgate in Brevard County, FL Patti Robertson of PTR Investments in Norfolk, VA Scott Gottlieb of SNL in Chicago, IL Val Swensen of The Home Liquidator in Milwaukee, WI “Team HVA knows it’s been one of the ugliest years for residential real estate in our nation’s history,” said John Hayes, president and CEO of HomeVestors. “We’ve become a household name for buying the biggest eyesores in a neighborhood for cash and turning them into beautiful homes that people are proud to own. These ten finalists show the public the challenges we take on in order to help people out of ugly real estate situations.” You can help Ug make his way through an ugly house in HVA's online game. To add to the fun, HVA is launching an interactive online game called "Ug's Ugly House Adventure" in which gamers try to maneuver Ug through an "Ugly House" while avoiding roaches, rats and other critters. The game, which was produced by Kewlbox.bom, can be forwarded to friends and the best scores are recorded and posted online. The ugliest house, along with second and third place runners-up, will be announced Dec. 3 at the Annual Convention at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. First prize is a $10,000 advertising credit, second prize is a $5,000 advertising credit, and third prize is a $2,500 advertising credit. All credits are to be used in Q1, 2009. Vote now through Nov. 15 for the HVA Ugliest House of the Year at ugliesthouse.com. …Leah Templeton is an account executive at BizCom Associates, HVA’s public relations agency.

HVA Media Director Receives 2008 Legacy Award

Congratulations to June Marie London, recipient of the Legacy Award June Marie London HVA Media Director June Marie London was presented with the annual Legacy Award during HomeVestors Founder’s Day celebrations. As the highest honor bestowed on a member of corporate Team HVA, the Legacy Award is presented annually to an employee who embodies the commitment, enthusiasm, and competence of HVA founder Ken D'Angelo. "Through the years, June Marie has helped us build trust in HVA's Marketing Department,” said John Hayes, president and CEO of HVA. “She has excelled at negotiating with a variety of media sources and we particularly appreciate her expertise at landing value-loaded electronic media buys, including the two national radio campaigns earlier this year. And while she can be an intense negotiator, she's also a delightful personality with a great sense of humor!” Previous recipients of the Legacy Award include Chris Stewart, Paul D'Angelo and FayLisa Jones, who recently left HVA for a career in teaching. As media director, June Marie supervises all media buyers and support staff. She oversees all media buying, including radio and television, outdoor, newspaper publications, direct mail and yellow pages. “I’m very proud to have received this award,” said June Marie. “I’ve been with HVA for five years and had the great privilege to work with Ken D’Angelo. To be chosen for this year’s Legacy Award is a great honor. I’m very proud to be a member of the HVA team and look forward to our even greater growth and success in the future.”

HVA Announces New Associate Franchise Referral Program

Franchise Development sets new seminars for St. Louis, Boston, Phoenix and Los Angeles By Jason Killough Jason Killough A big thanks to our Chicagoland franchisees and Don and Holly Swogger in Memphis, TN who hosted franchise development seminars with John Hayes in September. We have four more upcoming seminars: St. Louis, MO on October 16 at 7:00 p.m., just prior to John Hayes speaking at St. Louis REIA on October 17 Boston (Needham), MA on October 21 at 7 p.m. Phoenix (Scottsdale), AZ on October 23 at 7 p.m. Los Angeles, CA on November 10 at 11 a.m. Webinars Accessible Every Tuesday If there are no franchise seminars in your area, consider sending your franchise prospect to a live HVA Franchise Development Webinar. During this presentation, prospects learn about HomeVestors and interact with the Franchise Development team from the comfort of their homes or offices. They can ask questions via phone or e-mail, enjoying the same opportunity to interact with the team as they would have at a live seminar. Webinars are offered every Tuesday at 4 p.m. CST, and last from 40 to 50 minutes. For registration information, visit the "Own a Franchise" section of HomeVestors.com, and click on "Upcoming Events/Webinars." This is a great opportunity for your local investors or prospects to learn more about becoming an Associate or full-service franchisee. New Associate Franchise Referral Program Announced HomeVestors Franchise Development is pleased to announce that HVA will pay $500 cash or an ad credit to any franchisee who refers a new Associate Franchisee. The referring office must be the original source of the contact. HomeVestors Franchise Development Department must receive a HomeVestors Prospect Referral Form, completed and signed by the prospect that identifies the referring office, prior to paying you the referral fee. If the prospect has already requested or received information from HomeVestors, he/she cannot qualify as a referral.   Contact Sherry Wallace at 972.619.0089 for details. . . . Jason Killough is vice president of Franchise Development for HomeVestors. He can be reached at jason.killough@homevestors.com.

Valued HVA Employee Finds New Home After Transfer

Despite relocating to a new state, Wayne Prax was able to stay in the HomeVestors family By Leah Templeton   Leah Templeton Forget Extreme Home Makeover. HVA has the “Wayneover.” Though technically retired, for the past three years Wayne Prax still worked from 20 to 30 hours a week for CityScape Properties, a Kansas City, KS HomeVestors franchise. Prax spent much of his time on the job cleaning out ugly houses, and was so good at it that the office came up with a special name for a house that had been made over by Prax. “Even though he was retired Wayne would work nearly a full week,” said J.D. Asbell, owner of CityScape Properties. "He did a lot of stuff for us, but his main job was to clean out ugly houses. He was so great at it we called the process a Wayneover.” Over the summer Prax decided it was time to relocate in order to be closer to his son. The move meant a transfer to Milwaukee and leaving his position at CityScape. But Asbell knew the HVA franchise network had something special in Prax and couldn’t bear to lose such an asset. Asbell contacted franchisee Steve Vanden Noven of Berkeley Investments in Milwaukee, WI and found Prax a new position in the HVA family. Wayne Prax, the man behind the "Wayneover.' “I talked to Steve about Wayne, and after an interview he was hired,” said Asbell. “Steve’s just thrilled with the match. It’s a neat thing that our system offers employees at any level in the organization the ability to move to a different city and find a good job.” Vanden Noven is thrilled, too. His office has been equally impressed with Prax and even adopted the “Wayneover” term to describe his excellent ugly house makeovers. “Wayne’s become a regular addition to our team,” said Vanden Noven. “He works three to four hours a day, three to four days a week. He’s hilarious and constantly keeps all of us in stitches with his stories, but most importantly he does a very reliable job and loves HomeVestors.” “Even today, though Wayne doesn’t work here anymore, when we need a house cleaned we say it needs a Wayneover,” said Asbell. “He’s a true HomeVestors gem and really bleeds yellow. I’m thrilled another office was able to recruit such a wonderful employee.” If the situation ever presents itself and one of your cherished employees is faced with a move, keep in mind there are more than 220 HVA offices across the country. Your loss could be another HVA office’s gain. …Leah Templeton is an account executive with BizCom Associates, HVA’s public relations agency.

HVA Converts To Single Sheet Eco-Flex Billboards

New material is brighter, more durable and weather resistant By June Marie London   June Marie London The question in the outdoor industry has been, “Are you ready for the single sheet poster revolution?”…and finally the resounding answer is “yes, we are!” Beginning in first quarter 2009, the “Big 3” outdoor vendors -- Clear Channel, CBS and Lamar -- along with most regional vendors, will be completely converted from paper to PE/Plastic (Eco-Flex) for 30-sheet applications. This is a significant step forward for the outdoor industry. After more than two years of testing and vetting numerous materials, installation and finishing prototypes--glue-free, single sheet, recyclable PE posters are here! The major outdoor companies are currently in the process of completing the system hardware installations that will retro-fit their boards to convert to this exciting new product. Over 90 percent of the outdoor industry has standardized its installation to one of three new installation systems for the one sheet Eco-Flex application. Eco-Flex provides many benefits to the outdoor advertiser: A single sheet product has that has no seams, no flagging, no glue, resulting in a much higher quality product. Print quality on this product is excellent. Printed digitally, your 30-sheets will now look as good as bulletin flex. Ads just look better. The brightness of Eco-Flex is substantially greater than any available paper. Ads look better longer. When average periods are granted, and the material stays up past the contracted term, the advertiser’s copy will still look terrific. This is very important to HomeVestors as 30 percent of our monthly postings result from overrides of prior posting contracts. One-Piece Posters look consistently good regardless of weather conditions. Great news for franchisees with heavy rain and snow, as well as the blistering sun. Since they are made from a recyclable Polyethylene, the material will not contribute to an environmental problem. We will begin shipping the new Single Sheet Eco-Flex creative to the outdoor companies within the first posting periods of 2009. The cost will be $66 per 30-sheet. Watch for it in your market in the coming months. We know that you will be very pleased with the results…and best of all “NO MORE FLAGGIN’!!!” …June Marie London is the HVA media director. She can be reached at june.london@homevestors.com.