Branch office vs. Franchise......

[donnakay]

Hi,

I am new to this forum, so I'm not sure of the best place to post this. I guess I need to go back and introduce myself elsewhere.


Ok....I have a fast growing brokerage due to the fact that we have a residential property management division, and we are thriving in a market that is going in a different direction at the moment. I am in the NW IBA ( Independent Brokers Association), and a couple of broker / owners have approached me wanting to offer property management services without going through the accounting setup which was indeed a tremendous hassle.

The best solution we have reached is to merge offices. So I am either looking for connections in the Seattle area who could advise us on the best way to proceed and / or any information on branch offices vs. franchising. I'm not as interested in charging franchise fees as I am in growing the business through someone else's success. My attorney doesn't seem to be too interested in returning my email! Any help or resources would be appreciated.

[Scott.Hack]

What are the other options you considered?

[donnakay]

None, really. We both seem to think that branch office is the way to go. I'm just not very clear on how to go about it..

thanks!!

[donnakay]

Oh, and I forgot to mention. We both have around 10 agents, and both of the brokerages are of similar size and are in an outlying areas, so we would not be covering the same territories. Not that that makes a difference, but do you have any other ideas? Any feedback would be welcome!

Thank you again!

[escapeso]

Merging might be a good idea. But if they simply want to work with you on property management it seems like you could come up with an agreement short of totally merging. What are you getting out of the merger?

[donnakay]

We would be getting a piece of their income. We know we want to do this, but need to find resources to help us sort it out. Thanks!