Couple Makes a Difference for Stressed Homeowners in Northeast

Date AddedOctober 25, 2009 06:14:54 AM

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(Business Wire)--Carla and Jonathan Cheifetz recently opened a Showhomes franchise in Princeton,NJ after both lost their jobs and became frustrated with the lackluster jobmarket. Jonathan, a former Wall Street executive and Carla, previously the director of a non-profit, both lost their jobs during the economic downturn of2008. Both looked for new jobs for months before deciding to take their careersin a new direction.
"I was very impressed that Showhomes has been around for 23 years," Carla says."It's an especially effective solution in our Northeast housing market, wheremany homeowners are incredibly frustrated because their properties have lingeredon the market for so long. You see vacant homes for sale on every street - theopportunity for this business in this region is huge."
Jonathan Cheifetz agrees. "We are working with one client whose home has been onthe market for six years," Jonathan says. "She sat down and cried when she foundus."
As the economy sputters into the final quarter of 2009, the high-end real estatemarket is still in the dumps. While sales of lower end, entry-level homes haveincreased, sales of homes over $500,000 are moving at a glacial pace - if atall.
Showhomes, America's largest home staging company, is helping Realtors producesales of higher end homes that defy the down market. The company is nowexpanding its brand in the Northeast after two years of successful expansion inother parts of the country.
"The Northeast market has higher numbers of homes far more expensive than otherparts of the country," Thomas Scott, Showhomes' VP of Operations says. "Theopportunity and demand for service are definitely there. We believe some of theNortheast markets will become some of our highest producing franchises."
Showhomes has beaten its franchise expansion goals for the past two years andexpects to sell out in the next five years. The company has helped sell morethan 25,000 homes worth more than $8 billion across the United States by usingpeople as props to live in and help stage vacant homes for sale. This innovativespin on home staging is one of the few tactics producing home sales in today'smarket.

About Showhomes
Showhomes began its operations in 1986 and currently has 52 franchises in 23states. Showhomes has helped realtors and homeowners sell more than 25,000 homesworth more than $8 billion across the United States by transforming high-endvacant houses into valuable, staged homes. For franchise opportunities and moreinformation, please visit www.showhomes.com.