Crain’s in Chicago published a great set of articles focusing on franchising. Here are the article titles: IT’S ONE WAY TO BE YOUR OWN BOSS . . . Want to be king? MAKING IT WORK: DUNKIN’ DONUTS The doughboy THINK NUMBERS DON’T LIE? THINK AGAIN. Is this franchise the real deal? MAKING IT WORK: SUBWAY Turning sandwiches into a bread maker MAKING IT WORK: HELP-U-SELL Keeping it real in real estate BEWARE THE FRANCHISE GHOULS AND GOBLINS Tales from the dark side WANTED: SALES SKILL AND RESPECT FOR ELDERS It’s good to be (franchise) queen RESOURCES FOR YOUR LONG JOURNEY TO THE THRONE Words to the wise Check it out!

With the housing market booming, bypassing and undercutting real estate commission is becoming increasingly popular. It’s even catching on in Canada with PropertyGuys.com. In the USA, the leading franchise is probably Help-U-Sell.com with 750 independently owned and operated Help-U-Sell Real Estate offices. Help-U-Sell is a fee-for-services agency that can provide all of the services of a real estate firm, or just select a basic service package for a flat $3,000. The company provides all signage, advertising and negotiations. Sellers are encouraged to show their own properties and hold open houses. There are both fans and critics of the a-la-carte real estate helpers where you pay a flat fee. Paying a 6% commission to a real estate broker on a $500,000 home is $30,000. Alternatively, for under $5,000, you can hire a real estate attorney to represent you for a $600 flat-fee and pay Help-U-Sell $4,000 for signage, MLM listing and price negotiations. Heck, you can also post a small ad in the local newspaper and on eBay for another $100. Here are 2 more good articles: One, Two. I think Help-U-Sell is hot and deserves your attention, especially those interested in real estate. I’d buy it!

VERY OUT OF DATE.  Do a search instead.  This was manually updated March 21, 2006 Companies Mentioned in Posts (likely incomplete):Automotive 1-800 RADIATORS Oil Butler Lube N’ Go On-Site-Lube Business & Home Services 1-800-WATER-DAMAGE Bartercard Garagetek Help-U-Sell Home Instead Homewatch Caregivers My Girl Friday PropertyGuys.com Sears Carpet & Upholstery Tax Centers of America Cleaning & Maintenance none Computer & Internet (some are listed in “Retail”) Screenz Food and Restaurant Arby’s Auntie Anne’s Blimpies Cheeburger Cheeburger Chipotle Dippin’ Dots Dream Dinners Doc Green’s Gourmet Salad Dominic’s of New York The Dugout Durango Grill Fazoli’s Fire of Brazil Fogo de Chao Goldstar Chili Jamba Juice Jerq’zine Krispy Kream Lenny’s Sub Shops Mauwi Wauwi Original Hamburger Stand Panaderia Taza Papa John’s Pizza Factory Pizza Patron Pretzel Time Quiznos Red Rock Chili San Francisco Soup Co Shane’s Rib Shack Skyline Chili Smoothie King Smotthie Planet Soup Nazi Steak-out Subway Submarina Sub Station II Super Suppers The Soup Box Supercuts Suzanne’s Kitchen We’re Rolling Pretzel Company Wetzel’s Pretzels Z Pizza Zoup! Fresh Soup Co (List all sub franchises) Health & Fitness Curves Liberty Fitness Home Building & Repair Services See “Business and Home Services” above Personnel & Staffing none Pet Retail and Services Camp Bow Wow Doody Calls The Pet Pantry Wag My Tail Interquest Detection Canines Pets Are Inn Retail Franchises Ace Hardware AuctionDrop Battery Plus Best Cuts GNC Educational Outfitters Fantastic Sams Fastframe Foot Solutions Friendly Computers Geeks on Call GNC Hair Cuttery Herman’s World of Sports Imagine This Sold Orbit Drop Play It Again Sports QuikDrop Roosters Men’s Grooming Centers Screenz Snips Its Sports Clips Stone Mountain Carpet Mill Tom’s Foods We the People Categories: eBay drop offs (generally) Hair Travel & Hotel none Industry Lists & Research 2004 Same Store Sales Growth of QSRs (quick service restaurants) Royalty and Advertising …