|
Thanks to the VetFran program, Harrington is one of HVA’s newest franchisees
 |
| Cory Harrington |
Cory Harrington, owner of United Real Estate Ventures in San Antonio, TX, once had visions of getting into the medical field as a career. But, the Air Force reservist took a bit of a detour and has never looked back. Now, in his first year as an HVA franchisee, Harrington is busy diagnosing the best buys of ugly houses in San Antonio, TX.
Harrington served as a surgical technician in the Air Force Reserves from 1996-2003. His military experience helped him get into a veterans program while working with AmeriCorp. The program allowed Harrington to work 30 hours at a Veterans Administration medical clinic while earning his salary. He graduated with honors from the University of California-Berkley.
“I owe it all to my reserve status,” Harrington said of the benefits of the veterans program. “This helped me further my studies while I was working. I would have not had that if it were not for my military experience.”
Harrington worked in commercial real estate in the Sacramento, CA, area following his Air Force service. But he was aware of the company that had made a name for itself with those unusual billboards that read “We Buy Ugly Houses.”
“I had tried to get involved about two years ago and was trying to open in Sacramento with HVA,” Harrington recalled. “But the market just wasn’t ready at that time there, so I just kept focusing on commercial real estate.”
Still, Harrington’s determination did not stop there. A year later, again he tried to start a franchise in the Sacramento market.
“I was looking at all the financing options of how to get going and how to cover the operating expenses if we did open a franchise,” said Harrington. “Someone told me about VetFran at HomeVestors. So I researched it on the Internet and began looking into the possibilities. I found that it wasn’t as difficult of a process as I thought it would be. HomeVestors handled most of it for me.”
Endorsed by the International Franchise Association and supported by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Corporation and the U.S. Small Business Administration, VetFran includes participating franchisors that offer financial incentives to military veterans not available to other franchise investors.
Harrington began researching real estate markets across America to get a better view of the top locations and liked what he saw in San Antonio. Following a trip to Texas to investigate first hand the housing industry in the Alamo city, Harrington packed up his family to move to the Lone Star state and opened his franchise in August of this year.
“VetFran helped me raise some extra money to use if needed,” Harrington said. “The program is a considerable benefit and helped me do some marketing at the outset. This sort of marketing investment has already given me a nice return. This kind of commitment from HomeVestors has allowed me to put more into marketing and not just the franchising fee.”
Harrington applauds HVA for offering veterans programs like VetFran.
“I researched HomeVestors a lot before I decided to do this,” said Harrington. “If I was going to put capital toward anything, I wanted to know if the company was battle proven, not only in that particular market, but for anyone who applied it anywhere. All the kinks have been pretty much ironed-out by HomeVestors. It is a very consistent program and, if applied properly, will make you money. It has been everything I had hoped it to be and the VetFran discount has been great because every penny matters.”
|
