HomeVestors® has marked a notable milestone celebrating three decades as America’s Trusted Home Buyer. Founded in the spring of 1996, HomeVestors helped pioneer the professional real estate investor industry and the modern “house-flipping” business, and today the We Buy Ugly Houses® company helps revitalize communities across 47 states.
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“We laid our foundation long before dynamic duos were broadcasting themselves renovating houses around-the-clock, long before you could sell your house on the Internet, or much less have Internet in your home,” said Joshua Waltzer, Chief Executive Officer of HomeVestors. “Thirty years on, we have helped over 1,000 individuals build successful businesses that have profoundly changed their own lives, provided solutions to more than 165,000 sellers in need of help, and improved neighborhoods all over the country by rehabilitating affordable properties that families can call ‘home.’”
“We laid our foundation long before dynamic duos were broadcasting themselves renovating houses around-the-clock, long before you could sell your house on the Internet, or much less have Internet in your home,” said Joshua Waltzer, Chief Executive Officer of HomeVestors. “Thirty years on, we have helped over 1,000 individuals build successful businesses that have profoundly changed their own lives, provided solutions to more than 165,000 sellers in need of help, and improved neighborhoods all over the country by rehabilitating affordable properties that families can call ‘home.’”
HomeVestors recognized early that many neighborhoods had homes with untapped potential and built its franchise system to train and support investors who could renovate and improve those properties. The result today is a nationwide team of diverse entrepreneurs that support each other and the sellers they work with, some of whom have worked together for the full 30 years.
“If these walls could talk, they’d tell stories about sighs of relief at kitchen tables as one family’s journey transitions into another’s new beginning,” added Waltzer. “Some would even talk of literal hidden treasure, like when one of our franchisees, Jim Dow, found $10,000 in a wall and returned it to the original seller. Figuratively, the treasures range from community builds with Habitat for Humanity to ‘reformed’ corporate warriors and veterans finding joy in building – teams, homes, businesses, and purpose.”
Notably, HomeVestors has never stopped closing on existing offers and writing new purchase contracts, even as many real estate investors and iBuyers stopped buying during COVID, or fell out after the crash of 2009. HomeVestors is the only nationwide network of home buyers to have successfully navigated decades of changing real estate markets.
“We are the perfect example of what HomeVestors means to the communities we live and invest in,” said franchisee Tanice Myers, who, with her husband Paul, won this year’s The Ugliest House Of The Year® contest, a competition HomeVestors runs each year to feature the best “befores” and “afters” from franchisees. “I can’t tell you how many hold onto our postcards for years and feel a tremendous weight lifted when they’re ready to call. It’s not just about repairing houses—it’s about restoring pride, relieving stress for families, and giving communities a fresh start.”
Tanice, like many other franchisees, came to HomeVestors after a long career as a corporate executive. She and Paul first joined HomeVestors in 2018 with the purchase of a franchise in Seattle, and today operate two active franchises in Boise, Idaho and Seattle, Washington. They also serve as Development Agents, actively onboarding, training, and mentoring franchisees, while also working to give back.
The Myers’ house that won the 19th The Ugliest House Of The Year competition had a large wheelchair ramp that didn’t fit their remodel. Instead of throwing it away, the couple found a local family that had a young daughter with Spina Bifida, and reinstalled it at their home free of charge. The single caregiver mother had been quoted $5,000 for a ramp they couldn’t afford, so the Myers gifted them accessibility, a true trash to treasure tale. Today, the Myers employ a team of eight, and recently helped present a check for $20,000 to their local Habitat for Humanity® chapter, Treasure Valley Habitat for Humanity, as a result of their win.
“For 30 years, HomeVestors has prided itself on improving neighborhoods one house at a time,” concluded Waltzer. “In 1996, women- and veteran-owned businesses like many we currently have weren’t common, and there was virtually nobody doing what we do. Given what we’ve learned and the power of our franchisees and brand at this juncture, I’m excited to see what we build in our next 30.”
More HomeVestors stories featuring highlights from their first three decades of buying “ugly” houses can be found at www.homevestors.com and the brand’s social channels.
About HomeVestors of America, Inc.
For 30 years, HomeVestors of America, Inc. has recruited, trained and supported its 900 independently owned and operated HomeVestors franchisees that specialize in building businesses based on buying, rehabbing, selling, and holding residential properties. The largest professional house buying franchise in the U.S. with more than 165,000 houses bought since 1996, HomeVestors is known as the We Buy Ugly Houses people, and strives to make a positive impact in each of the 47 states and the District of Columbia, in which it has franchises.
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