Moving can be a complicated process for anyone — so it’s especially challenging for seniors. Presto Real Estate recognizes those challenges and works to make the process easier by providing an all-encompassing real estate experiences for senior clients.
This niche has proven to be popular with the Naperville, Ill. community, so much so that the company is looking to expand with a new franchise program. Read more about the company’s history and its future plans in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.
What the Business Does
Provides real estate services for seniors.
Founder Lisa Stover told Small Business Trends, “Presto is a full service real estate company that primarily services seniors and their families. We focus on the transition and relocation of our clients and oversee all the elements of the process. We pack, move and resettle our clients into their new home. Presto oversees the removal of all the unwanted items in the home via estate sale, donations, discards or deliveries. We will refresh and repair the home insuring it is in the best possible shape and then we sell it. Some clients opt to take advantage of all our services and others use only need a few of them.”
Business Niche
Convenience.
Stover says, “The one stop shop is our model. We saw the need, especially for seniors who have lived in their homes for many years. Senior communities call on us to help their clients make a safe and smooth transition. We are a preferred provider for many of the local communities.”
How the Business Got Started
After realizing the challenges of moving a parent.
Stover explains, “I was in the RE business for several years when I had to move my own mom. I realized I couldn’t be the only person needing to help a parent make a move like this. Putting my experience to work for me allowed me to come up with a system and process that could help others. The business was born at that time, but has been through many changes and updates since.”
Biggest Win
Connecting with a local senior community.
Stover says, “I would say the biggest win was when a senior community in our area decided to use us for all their residents’ moves. They offered to pay for the moves and enlisted our services solely to accomplish this. We brought value to them and made their job easier. The residents and their families were so appreciative and gave us rave reviews. This gave us a lot of steam and really propelled us to approach the industry with confidence.”
Biggest Risk
Taking on additional investments for clients.
Stover adds, “When we refresh homes, we often pay our contractors before we are paid by our clients. It can feel very scary to carry this kind of debt, but we are always confident that the home will sell and we will be back in the black.”
How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000
Creating a franchise program.
Stover says, “We are almost done with our franchise documents. The plan is to open Presto RE offices all over the United States. It’s an expensive endeavor and doing this without incurring debt is the plan. $100,000 would make a huge difference and allow us expand the resources we can offer to franchisees.”
Recent Accomplishment
Winning a national award.
Stover says, “I recently was awarded the Outstanding Service Award for the Senior Real Estate Specialist designation from the National Association of Realtors. It is a national award and I was shocked to win it. One of my agents and I made the trip to Boston to accept the award and it was such an honor and a great weekend to celebrate how far this company has come since I envisioned it many years ago.”
* * * * *
Find out more about the Small Biz Spotlight program
Images: Presto Real Estate, Lisa Stover