Web Real Estate Prospecting Franchisees

The decision to franchise the operation represents a bold move on the dot-com's part, but certainly one that carries significance for the commercial real estate world. The strategy, in discussion stages for six months, will facilitate a nationwide rollout that Briant says will have Web Real Estate operations up and running in 100 locations in the next 18 months. Today, the Addison-based high-tech service operates in 22 markets in the US and Mexico.

Franchisees will not only get the know-how to develop a Web Real Estate site for their market, but also the firm's current "living brochure" database for that respective area, says Briant. Franchises are being sold for upward of $25,000 for a population of 250,000, he says. The cost hinges upon the market size and larger markets could have more than one franchisee.

But, emphasizes Briant, Dallas-Ft. Worth is not for sale. "That's not part of our plan at this point in time," he says. The main hub will be kept for training franchisees, who will need two weeks to learn the ins and outs before heading home to hit the ground running.

Briant says the franchise decision is mortared in a philosophy that "commercial real estate is a local decision." He says the three-year-old company feels it's fared better in the DFW region than any of its other markets because of local connections. And that, says Briant, is what had sparked the idea to franchise. Web Real Estate's existing business model limits expansion whereas the franchise strategy opens the door to markets of all sizes, he explains.

The plan, announced Tuesday, brought five calls into Briant's office, all asking what's involved in a franchise. "It's absolutely in the newborn stage right now," he says.