About
www.assist2sell.com
Based in Reno, Nev., Assist-2-Sell was founded by Mary LaMeres-Pomin and Lyle Martin in 1987. Assist-2-Sell, “North America’s Leading Discount Real Estate Company,” has opened more than 600 franchise offices in the United States and Canada since 1993. These offices provide home sellers with full brokerage services for a low, flat fee, saving consumers more than $800 million in commission.* Homebuyers also have access to a full range of services, including Assist-2-Sell’s exclusive listings databases. All brokers and agents are fully licensed and REALTORS®. For the last five years, Entrepreneur Magazine has recognized Assist-2-Sell as one of the leading franchises, and the Wall Street Journal’s StartupJournal named Assist-2-Sell one of its 25 “Franchise Top Performers.”
*Savings based on statistics since January 1, 2000, for all Assist-2-Sell® offices in North America, compared to paying six percent commission. Six percent used for comparison purposes only. Commissions may be negotiable and are not fixed by law.
- Status
- Private Company
- Founded
- 1987
- # Employees
- 29
Company History
In the late 1980s, Mary LaMeres-Pomin and Lyle Martin had a small, successful residential real estate office in Reno, Nev.; mostly working referrals and repeat customers. Around that time, large franchise offices and “mega-brokers” started to emerge and increase in popularity. Consumers believed that bigger meant better. Mary and Lyle realized they needed a competitive advantage if they were going to compete successfully with the “big boys.” After witnessing the success of discount companies in other industries, they came up with a premise: If you charge home sellers less, you should be able to do enough volume to make up for the lower fees. They were right! And Assist-2-Sell® was born.
Business took off as they began targeting “For Sale by Owners” (FSBOs) with their discounted commission. Mary and Lyle soon realized home sellers needed and wanted full-service, but they wanted to pay a more reasonable fee. So, they made some adjustments and Assist-2-Sell evolved into a “full-service discount” model.
No one else was offering full-service discount real estate, which meant Mary and Lyle had to write the book. They refined the “Assist-2-Sell System” based on their experiences and became experts at adaptation.
The “low fee” commission structure wasn’t the only thing that was different about Assist-2-Sell. Sellers were paying high commissions and still ending up with agents who spent less time marketing their home and more time trying to find their next listing. Mary and Lyle understood that if agents didn’t need to market themselves they would have more time to provide customer service. The Assist-2-Sell low fee concept attracts the listings and Assist-2-Sell agents service that business.
The "old way," where home sellers typically depended on agents for the marketing of their home, also invited problems. Did the agent have adequate funds to market their home? Did the agent know how to effectively market their home? Typically, marketing was limited to placing the home in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and running an occasional newspaper ad. The Assist-2-Sell model removes the burden of marketing the home from the individual agents because all marketing is handled by the office.
As Mary and Lyle continued to grow their business and experience increased success, they began receiving calls from brokers and agents wanting to know if they could buy a franchise. Mary and Lyle knew the Assist-2-Sell concept would work in other markets and they wanted to expand, so in 1993 they became franchisors of the Assist-2-Sell concept. The first Assis-2-Sell franchise office opened in April 1994, and by the end of that year, the fifth office had opened.
Since then, Assist-2-Sell has become one of the fastest-growing franchises and has been recognized as one of the top franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine and The Wall Street Journal’s StartupJournal.com. Currently, there are more than 600 offices throughout the United States and Canada.
With the Internet, consumers have become much more sophisticated and more knowledgeable about the real estate process. This increased consumer awareness has helped “non-traditional” real estate companies gain traction in recent years, adding to the pressure on “traditional” real estate sales commissions. Assist-2-Sell is well-equipped to satisfy consumers’ increased thirst for knowledge—Mary and Lyle built the company to change and adapt to the needs of consumers.