“We are thrilled that Showhomes Home Staging has made this prestigious list for a second year in a row,” says Matt Kelton, Chief Operation Officer of Showhomes Franchise Corporation. “Our unique business model has been delivering values to customers around the country for over 25 years. To be recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine is an honor that we don’t take lightly. Our franchisees are the key element in helping Showhomes experience 25% average growth per year over the last seven years.”

Showhomes ranked 45th for the second year in a row in the Low-Cost Franchises category, which shows the top franchises that can be started for an investment of under $50,000.

In the 2012 Homebased Franchises category, Showhomes ranked 75th. This category ranks the top franchise opportunities that can be run within the home, a valuable option that plays in to the low-cost benefit of the Showhomes business model.

The unique Showhomes business model focuses on staging vacant houses and training live-in Home Managers to stage and maintain the homes while they are on the market, helping them to sell faster while also providing a business opportunity during these slow economic times.

Showhomes is a member of the International Franchise Association and the Real Estate Staging  Association, and has been a top-ranked franchise by the Franchise Business Review. The company has been featured in such media outlets as: CNN, Oprah, HGTV, Travel Channel, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Money magazine to name a few.

“My husband had just lost his job and we couldn’t afford our California home anymore,” says Jeannette. Worried about the impact a foreclosure would have on their credit history, the Fairs opted to sell their home through a short sale process. A popular remedy in today’s troubled housing market, short sales allow homeowners, with lender approval, to sell the home for less than what is owed on the mortgage loan and allows the seller to avoid having their credit score hit with a foreclosure penalty.

“We were not allowed to buy a home for two years after the short sale process,” Jeannette says. As Jeannette and Michael hunted for a new place to live they came across an advertisement for the Showhomes Home Manager program.

“Just knowing that we could be where we wanted to be at a price we could afford was sound enough,” Jeannette says. “It is an equal balance. We love the area and know the house we are in will sell. The best part is knowing Showhomes has an inventory of other homes we can move to in neighborhoods we are familiar with.”

Home Managers since mid-May, Jeannette, Michael and their two kids are enjoying the perks of their new lifestyle. Living in a $1.25 million house in the gorgeous Palos Verdes area, the Fairs are able to move beyond the rough patch, save money and live near their friends.

“Obviously living in a home you couldn’t otherwise afford is a perk to the program,” Jeannette says. “I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to live in a home that is clutter free. You can’t just hide things away in the closet or garage.”

Like many other Home Managers, the Fairs loved going through their belongings and gathering only what they really needed. “It feels great to be so lightweight and organized,” Jeannette says.

With the help of Sandra Wick, owner of Showhomes South Bay, the family furnished their new place and got it in ready-to-show condition. “Sandra helped us design, it was all very fun.”

The Home Manager program is the key to Showhomes success. It gives homeowners peace of mind knowing that their property is less susceptible to vandalism, squatting and damage as well as gives homes a real-life feel for potential buyers.

Thrilled to find a housing solution that works and a place their kids love, the Fairs highly recommend the Home Manager program to flexible families who are looking for a unique opportunity.

“We always joke with our friends and call this our ‘summer home,’ but I really do feel at home here. The kids were quick to acclimate, the whole thing just feels right,” Jeannette says.

The Home Manager program has been a financial relief for the Fairs and could just be the solution you are looking for. Interested? Contact your local Showhomes franchise to find out more.

Mike and Janine Callahan embody the famous moral from the fable, “Tortoise and the Hare” – slow and steady wins the race.

The entrepreneurial couple started cautiously when they opened Showhomes Fox Valley in 2009. They concentrated on trust building with key players in the community – Realtors, builders, homeowners, re-modelers and banks included. Building bonds took a little time, but the Callahan’s instincts told them it would pay off, one sold house at a time.

Flash forward, and business is flourishing at the Chicago-based franchise. The careful relationship building that started two years ago paved the way. The Callahan’s have seen a 158 percent increase over 2010 and have emerged as one of the top 10 Showhomes franchises.

“We took the time to help educate people about the high value our staging service brings to the table,” says Callahan. “We built a foundation and then watched it evolve as the homes we staged quickly sold when other listings sat for long periods of time.”

The Callahan’s discovered that more homeowners and builders are turning to remodeling in a difficult housing market. In fact, the Remodeling Market Index shows the second quarter of 2011 as the second highest quarter of remodeling activity since 2007. Remodeling by itself isn’t enough to sell a home, though, and homes sell faster with Showhomes involved.

Showhomes has a unique twist on home staging: it uses live-in Home Managers to help stage and occupy vacant houses and keep them in show condition for Realtors. This approach lowers homeowner costs to stage and often produces a faster sale at a higher price.

“It’s one thing to hear someone tell you that the Showhomes approach is a game-changer,” Callahan says. “It’s another thing altogether – and much more powerful – for them to see it in action at one of our Realtor and Broker open houses. Once the builders saw what we do with their own eyes, they got it immediately.”

“Builders and banks saw Showhomes could help them sell their properties faster, which means saving money for just about everyone involved,” Callahan adds. “We picked up six homes almost immediately following our early open houses.”

Word-of-mouth snowballed, and the Callahan’s now work with several builders/re-modelers in Chicagoland. These formerly distressed properties are now appealing, knock-out homes.

The couple also took on the challenge of building relationships with bankers, specifically those burdened with a glut of foreclosed houses sitting empty. Working with them took patience because the banking industry is in the midst of a massive shift of its own, Callahan says.

“In the past they relied on unloading properties as quickly and cheaply as they could to get them off the books,” he says. “But with so many foreclosed properties on the market, the old ways don’t work anymore, especially with high-end homes.”

“These relationships take months if not a year to turn into something,” Callahan continues. “But when the light bulb goes off, it’s amazing. The banks and builders we work with now understand if they want to compete they need to step up their game. When they do, the magic starts to happen.”

The Callahans are racking up success stories, including the recent sale of a high-end property in five days. It had lingered on the market for almost three years.

Showhomes has three locations spanning much of the Chicago metro area and all three are top-performing franchises.

“We’re one of the best things going in the Chicago real estate market,” says Callahan. “More and more people are learning about us after hearing that our homes sell and its good to know our service really helps improve the market.”

Brian and Melissa Palmer found out they had to move from Gainesville to Tampa, Florida while they were on a three-week family vacation in the summer of 2010. With only one week to make the move, they switched from vacation mode to warp speed ‘get out of town’ mode.

“The Internet was our only source of searching for a place,” says Melissa Palmer. “I found this great house for a shockingly low price and e-mailed to find out more.  It was a home presented by Showhomes Home Staging.”

Showhomes made sense for the Palmers, especially because they knew they didn’t want a long-term lease in Tampa. They already were trying to sell a family home in Utah, where they lived before moving to Gainesville in 2009.

Still, the Palmers were skeptical at first.

“My first reaction was that this had to be a scam or a misprint,” Melissa says, laughing. “Everything I’d been looking at was much more expensive and nowhere near as nice. I did every Internet background search I could do. I eventually ended up calling some of the current Home Managers to find out how the program worked.”

Fast forward a year.

The Palmers are 100 percent satisfied as Home Managers and plan to stick with the program another year or so until they save enough money to buy a home. Not only that, their four young children, ages 2 through 8, have adjusted to a new – and much more organized – life than they were living prior to Showhomes.

“We are learning some pretty great habits,” Melissa says. “It’s a challenge, but not as hard as I thought it would be. I’m certainly not into making my kids feel like prisoners in their own home, and I don’t want to make them feel like they are living in a museum. But living in a Showhomes home is giving us the opportunity to learn together how to be a more organized family.”

The Palmers have lived in three homes so far – all 4-bedroom luxury abodes with fantastic amenities. The first one was a lake home with a swimming pool. “The second one was in a perfect little family community where families walked their dogs and kids played in the streets,” Melissa adds. “Now we live in the largest of the three homes, in a very upscale, guarded community that has great community amenities and a safe feeling.”

Brian, a health care executive, says being Showhomes’ Home Managers has helped the couple learn about Tampa neighborhoods. ”We’ve been able to ‘try on’ different neighborhoods,” he says. “We are more prepared to buy exactly what we want, where we want.”

The obvious benefits of being Home Managers – include living in a large, beautiful home for far less than market rates – are hard to beat, but Melissa says her family’s ability to learn new habits tops the list of perks.

“The kids get up and make their beds, clean out the bathroom sink after brushing their teeth, and put their toys away when they’re done playing,” Melissa says. “These are all things I wanted them to learn before, but now it’s actually happening.  I have also become better at housekeeping which makes me a happier homemaker.”

JoAnne Gaylord of Showhomes Naples

An experienced home stager and interior designer, JoAnne Gaylord recently became a RESA-PRO member to give Showhomes Naples an edge. Her recent induction into the association raises the bar for home staging in Naples and introduces Gaylord to the community of homeowners and Realtors as a respected professional of ethical home staging practices.

“I’ve been a home stager and interior designer for 17 years,” JoAnne Gaylord says. “Earning the RESA-PRO designation is another way of proving myself to the community of Naples and really setting a higher standard for Showhomes Naples in terms of professional home staging.”

RESA is a source of education and business tools for members and works to elevate the standing of the home staging industry. To be considered for the RESA-PRO designation, candidates must take an online class, pass a code of ethics exam and further meet additional business requirements.

Showhomes provides a twist on traditional home staging, using live-in Home Managers to occupy and help stage vacant houses so they are kept in perfect show condition. Whole-house staging dramatically improves the speed and price of a home sale. With millions of vacant houses on the market, Showhomes is poised for additional growth.

“We are very proud to introduce JoAnne to the Naples home staging community,” says Bert Lyles, CEO of Showhomes. “Her years of staging experience along with her designation by the Real Estate Staging Association make her a great addition to the Showhomes family.”

Showhomes Naples had their grand opening on July 1.

Home Managers keep homes looking decorated.

When children grow up and leave the house, parents often adopt a more spontaneous lifestyle. That’s exactly what George and Jill Stathas found themselves doing when they signed up as Home Managers with Showhomes Home Staging 18 months ago.

The empty nesters are exploring living in different settings and neighborhoods in the Milwaukee area, something they didn’t have the freedom to do when their daughter was younger. Not only that, they are also getting the chance to save money.

The Stathases first heard about home managing from a Realtor when they unexpectedly found themselves needing a place to live in 2009. Their 4,100-square-foot home on Little Cedar Lake in Southeastern Wisconsin sold much quicker than they expected, and they needed to make a fast move.

“We didn’t expect any serious offers until the spring because of the housing market, but much to our surprise the home sold in 30 days,” Jill says. “We were reluctant to buy immediately, and nice apartments in the Milwaukee area are still quite small and pricey. Plus, I had a lot of furniture coming from such a large home. We came across the possibility of Showhomes and everything just fell into place. We thought that this would be an ideal solution for us at this particular point, and it has turned out to be just that.”

The Stathases have been home managers for 18 months and have no immediate plans to quit. Their first property, located in the Germantown suburb of Milwaukee, was a newly constructed 1,800-square-foot ranch home that sold in six weeks.

Having another home sell so quickly was a second surprise. Their next placement was a  2,600-square-foot, four bedroom bi-level home in Wales, an established suburb about 40 minutes from Germantown. They have lived in the home for 16 months.

“You have to be flexible to a certain extent,” Jill says. “If you work in a certain part of town, you could wind up with a longer commute. However, we have found that Showhomes is great about giving the Home Managers as many options as possible when having to move to a new location.”

The Stathases also aren’t sure they’ll stay in the area long-term.  Being Home Managers allows them to stay flexible and open about the future while living in spectacular homes.

The Statheses keep the bedrooms looking furnished.

“Home Managing is much more affordable than your typical options, and it is fun having the opportunity of being in different environments,” Jill says. “Also, if you enjoy the chance to change your environment, it never gets boring. When you are placed in a different property, you get to decorate all over again.”

George, who often works from home, has enjoyed having the same option as a Home Manager.

“There are very little hassles with the program,” he says. “It’s really easy for the two of us. We’re still in a state of transition, so we’re more than happy to stay with the program.”

Owner of Showhomes Naples, JoAnne Gaylord

The home staging company plans to help homeowners sell vacant houses by adding a “life-like” appeal with live-in Home Managers and proven home staging methods. The new franchise will primarily serve Collier County.

“Naples and Fort Myers are widely known as second home and retirement communities,” says JoAnne Gaylord, owner of Showhomes Naples. “Both southwest Florida communities have been strongly impacted by the vacant housing dilemma and need Showhomes Home Staging to help turn things around.”

As today’s housing market struggles to recover, there are higher numbers of vacant houses for sale. Even in Collier County, where there are a large number of vacation rental houses, the number of houses vacant and for sale due to short sales, foreclosures or owner transfers is at an historical high.

“The solution is not in repeatedly discounting home prices,” Gaylord says. “The more complete solution is in staging homes with live-in Home Managers that help homeowners sell faster and closer to the list price.”

Showhomes Home Staging has attracted national media attention for its unique staging model: The company recruits and trains live-in Home Managers to help stage and maintain the home while it is on the market for sale. The service is popular with homeowners because it lowers insurance costs, creates a model-home atmosphere and makes the home far easier to sell.

“Many people ask ‘Who is maintaining these vacant houses?’” says Gaylord. “The answer is no one. For owners of vacant houses, a significant concern is the potential for something to happen while they are away. With Showhomes use of live-in Home Managers, owners don’t have to worry anymore.”

Showhomes Naples opened July 1. “JoAnne’s background in interior design and home staging is an excellent fit for Showhomes,” says Bert Lyles, CEO of Showhomes. “A member of the Real Estate Staging Association with 17 years of design experience, JoAnne is ready to transition vacant houses that sit, into beautiful life-filled homes that sell.”

“We are excited for Showhomes to continue its growth in Florida,” says Matt Kelton, COO of Showhomes. “The Florida market is flooded with vacant houses, specifically the southwest Florida area, and Showhomes Naples is here to help.”

Showhomes uses furniture of Home Managers to make home come alive.

Not anymore.

These days, buying a home is risky and people can’t afford to make a mistake. But where do the mobile professionals seeking new employment live if they can’t buy a home and don’t want an apartment or an executive hotel suite.

Showhomes Home Staging offers job seekers in new cities an unusual housing solution: move into a vacant house for sale and let Showhomes use your furniture to help stage the home for potential  buyers. The Home Manager gets the perks of living in upscale homes for a fraction of the cost and provides the homeowner with peace of mind.

That’s exactly what Chris and Jennifer Taylor did when they moved to Minneapolis from downtown Chicago during the recession. Over a period of four years, the Taylors lived in luxury homes that Showhomes staged with list prices from $500,000 to $2 million.

“We didn’t want to rush out and buy a home, and we didn’t want to sign a 12-month lease either,” Chris Taylor says. “We enjoyed four years as Home Managers and ended up saving over $50,000.”

Home Managers like the Taylors not only save money but also can “test drive” homes in different neighborhoods to learn about the local real estate market.

“One of the best things about the program is that it allowed us to get to know the city and its neighborhoods and communities,” Taylor added.  “When we were ready to buy, we knew where we wanted to live.“

Jose Torrealba has a similar story. He was transferred from Toronto to Milwaukee, Wis. during the height of the recession and chose Showhomes’ Home Manager program over immediate home ownership. Torrealba and his family lived in a $1.5 million lakeside home for less than half of his previous mortgage payments in Toronto. The Torrealbas moved back to Toronto after a year with $20,000 in savings.

The homes Showhomes stages with live-in Home Managers typically sell much faster and for far closer to the list price in today’s market. Having an occupant lowers the owner’s insurance costs, makes the home less vulnerable to low-ball offers and vandalism and generally makes it show far better than vacant houses. With today’s housing market flooded with vacant houses and foreclosures, business is better than it has ever been.

“Showhomes is one of the most creative housing solutions available for mobile professionals and families on the move,” says Matt Kelton, Showhomes COO. “Our ‘home staging with a twist’ is a win-win-win for the homeowner, Realtor and Home Manager.”

Donna Muelver, owner of Showhomes Southeast Wisconsin

Women are leading the charge of an entrepreneurial revolution, not just in the U.S. but all over the world and at Showhomes Home Staging. Some call this emerging economic trend the “she-conomy.”

At Showhomes, successful women owners are coming from many areas and phases of life and business. Some were executives or managers in the corporate world. Others are transitioning into franchising after owning another small business or after temporarily leaving the workplace to raise a family.

Almost 80 percent of the company’s franchisees are female owned or co-owned by a woman, Showhomes’ COO Matt Kelton says.

“Wildly successful women are the norm at Showhomes Home Staging,” Kelton says. “We’re filled to the brim with professional woman successfully juggling career, family and community obligations.

“Smart women love the Showhomes model because of its low overhead and entry costs,” Kelton added. “It’s a franchise that can be run from home with a flexible schedule so that a franchisee can still make it to that all-important softball game or PTA meeting.”

Linda Saavedra, a veteran corporate executive and former owner of a profitable property management company, skyrocketed to success less than two years after purchasing Showhomes Tampa in 2009.

“Showhomes was the next logical career growth step for me because it combined my management experience, my experience working with homeowners on a short-term basis and my flair for design and décor,” Saavedra says. “It’s a small enough franchisor to be receptive to your input. They listen. Plus, there’s a certain amount of freedom in the system to ‘do your own thing,’ providing it’s within the corporate guidelines. That suits me. I am not known as a conformist or a follower.”

Donna Muelver, co-owner of Showhomes Southeast Wisconsin, is another woman leading the way in the she-conomy.

Before purchasing a Showhomes Home Staging Franchise in 2003, Muelver owned and managed several small businesses. At the same time, she was raising a family, caring for foster children and eventually taking on the tasks and joys of being a grandmother.

“One of the best things about owning a Showhomes Home Staging franchise is that you have the ability to design your life to include more than just work,” Muelver says. “It’s easier to juggle the needs of work, family and community.”

With the economy struggling to recover and the housing market showing little life, one franchise industry sector has a healthy pulse: franchises that cost $50,000 or less to start.

Entrepreneur Magazine, considered by many as the bible for small business owners, listed Showhomes Home Staging on its annual low-cost list of franchises to watch.

Here’s what the magazine said about the low-investment sector:

The economic conditions of the last few years have caused a bit of a conundrum. More and more people are looking to take their careers into their own hands by becoming entrepreneurs, while less and less financing has been made available to help those dreams come true.

One solution? Businesses with startup costs low enough that they don’t need financing. And the franchise world has been all too happy to provide such opportunities. In the following listing, you’ll find 195 companies in categories ranging from automotive services to children’s businesses, home improvements to travel agencies–all of which you can get off the ground for less than $50,000.

Showhomes is a top rated franchise, ranked highly on Entrepreneur Magazine’s annual Franchise 500 list and ranked as a Top 50 Franchise by the Franchise Business Review.

Showhomes has a unique twist on traditional home staging: it uses live-in ‘Home Managers’ to occupy and help stage vacant houses while they are on the market and for sale. Live-in Home Managers make a big difference in how well a home shows and typically produce higher sales prices in much shorter times.

Best of all, Showhomes approach to home staging costs homeowners less than traditional stagers and most fees can be paid at closing. As a result, Showhomes has increased the number of banks it works with and is expecting its seventh year of increasing revenue. Showhomes is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and has helped homeowners and their Realtors sell an estimated 26,000 homes.

Quick facts about a Showhomes home staging franchise:

Franchise Fee: $34,900

Total Estimated Investment Begins At: $43,800

Financing Available: Yes

Veteran Discount: Yes

Royalty Rate: 10%
National Ad Fund: 2%
Territory Definition: Zip Codes

Want to learn more? Fill out the request information form and attend an informational webinar to see if Showhomes is a fit for you.