People aware of the UK property market know that it has been facing a bad time. An independent agency that charts the value of UK property, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has been watching a diminishing housing market across the country for more than a year. For a long time, they have been using negative headlines for their monthly reports like “Sales Fall Further with Little Sign of Respite” and “Price Balance Drops Further into Negative Territory”.

Effects on franchise business:
Franchisees and franchisors engaged in the business of property services or home repair are not affected by the long term housing slump. In fact, some analysts said that people engaged in home repair work are gaining an advantage from these crises as people are unable to purchase or sell homes and ultimately have only the choice of renovating their home.

In the present scenario, things are difficult but not impossible. However property service franchises are still finding business.

Franchise opportunity:
It is important to know that business opportunities are available and potentially lucrative which can have an effect on property service franchises. There are many franchises that are successful and are in position to earn profit in the present situation.

Prestige nursing is a business functioning in the related fields of homecare services and healthcare recruitment. They are looking at recruiting a limited number of franchisees that will help them to share their success in the market.

Prestige Nursing is an experienced company and was originally founded in the year 1945. Prestige Nursing specialises in care staff and the supply of temporary nursing to a variety of companies, organisations and individuals. In the UK, Prestige Nursing is one of the biggest independently owned nursing agencies. They are highly experienced in care recruitment and the nursing industry. This experience and success enable Prestige Nursing to invite potential franchisees to step in.

Prestige can offer the potential for less risk and significantly higher return than those franchises that only focus on domiciliary care by helping franchisees target both healthcare recruitment and homecare services. The availability of a cost effective, high quality and flexible temporary workforce has never been significant as a majority of people prefer to be taken care of in a residential setting or their own home.

In today’s driving conditions, minor vehicle damage such as scuffs, dents and scratches to bumpers, panels, mirrors, wheel arches and alloy wheels are expected. Vehicles suffer damage at some point or another. Conventional methods make even the smallest repair very time consuming and expensive. This can lead your vehicle to a specialist body repair shop where the whole body might have to be repainted meaning you might not be able to use your vehicle for several days. But Car Medic is an exception to this.

Car Medic operators can restore minor dents, stone chips and scratches on bumpers and vehicle panels, perform dash repair, windscreen repair, seat repair and more. They use their revolutionary SMART vehicle paint repair system. This system gives ideal results in a fraction of the time and cost compared to conventional methods.

Be a part of Car Medic, the UK’s leading franchise SMART repair business and you will never be short of work, since there are about 27 million vehicles on Britain’s roads. Car Medic not only provides their franchisees with training but also provides them with marketing and promotional support.

Car Medic provides its franchisees with the following things:

• All tools and hardware
• Fully comprehensive training
• Vehicle graphics
• Promotional support
• Corporate clothing
• Full technical backup
• A starter pack of chemicals and consumables

Signs Express and Mercedes Benz have got together to advertise environmentally friendly vans. Signs Express, a signs and graphics franchise, has been assisting Mercedes Benz in advertising their new line of environmental vans.

Grimsby based Signs Express has been enrolled by Mercedes to manufacture vehicle graphics for 57 of the new Sprinter environmental start vans. The eco-start vans play a vital role in reducing fuel costs and also reduce the impact on the atmosphere by just cutting the vehicles engine while at a standstill. The eco-start van is all set and only needed graphics applied to deliver it to each and every Mercedes van dealer across the country.

Sales and marketing manager at Mercedes Benz Vans, John Reed, said that they are very pleased and happy to work with Sign Express. They had a positive experience working with Signs Express as they were very flexible, responsive and provided regular feedback on how the work was being carried out. Signs Express always found some way or another to make things happen even when presented with last minute challenges. They constantly worked hard to fulfil all the needs of Mercedes. John Reed added that the Signs Express network is the epitome of the ‘can do’ attitude.

Popstars Academy is the UK specialist for dance classes and popstar parties. Popstar Academy offers structured term-time dance classes surrounding choreographed routines to current disco, chart music, freestyle, hip-hop and street. The motive of Popstars Academy is to ensure all children are properly motivated to improve their fitness, develop confidence and reach their true potential in a fun, learning environment. The owners of the Popstars Academy franchise are offered with dance workshops, corporate events, local community projects and school clubs.

The Popstars Academy offers its franchise owners an excellent opportunity to work from a home office. Being a franchise, you will be developing a couple of activities in your area i.e. Popstars Parties and Popstars Academy.

A five year franchise agreement is offered by Popstars to their franchisees with complete right for renewal in an elite territory. Popstars territories are researched with care hence franchisees will have the potential to build up more academies in their territory.

The support offered by Popstars Academy to their franchisees is as follows:

• Funding advice and business planning
• Training programme and full induction
• Brand developmental plan and national marketing
• Branding programme to get immediate recognition
• Field support and ongoing head office support
• A local marketing tool kit
• Administration support

Fiducia Commercial Solutions are one of the UK’s top self-governing commercial mortgage brokers. Fiducia commercial solutions use a distinctive sourcing system, Commercial Brain. It has proved itself to be very successful.

Managing partner, Marcus Grimshaw said that in the past few months, the lending market has seen several changes. Clients and professional advisors had a tough time in finding and obtaining lending facilities. Their own team of brokers had seen a drastic increase in introductions. An impartial and independent broker is much required now.

He also added that their sourcing system, Commercial Brain, has now become very important to seek which lenders are looking forward for new business. Their system is completely web based which instantly sources all lenders across the UK high street, non-conforming, secondary and sub prime.

It is essential to move quickly in any market, particularly with the present conditions. They look after the UK’s major financial advisor networks which have given their brokers an influence in buying power with their lenders.

He also added that their sourcing and case tracking systems have repeatedly improved. This has made them unique in the market and also led to excellent customer feedback.

For those who are looking to break away from the regular 9 to 5 job and want to run a business of their own, franchising could be the way into entrepreneurship. John Scholey was one such person who decided to take the risk and quit his corporate job and got himself a ChipsAway franchise. He feels that this has been the best decision of his life and does not once regret leaving his job.

ChipsAway is the world leader in the small to medium area repair technology (SMART) repairs – a concept that was pioneered in the USA and later introduced in the UK. With this technology, you can make invisible repairs to those bumps, scratches and scuffs, quickly and cost effectively and can be back on the road in a matter of hours. As such minor car troubles keep happening, the demand is high and this business is near recession proof. The best part is that franchisees can operate from professionally liveried vans that give them flexibility, or could go for a static workshop.

According to John, it was hard work to start with, but the publicity that followed with word of mouth led to delighted customers and more business. Since this is an all set to go business, you can start earning from day one and have the satisfaction of running a business of your own, all this at a franchise fee of just £22,500+ VAT.

The demand for franchising has gone up and franchisor Cash Generator confirms this with exceptional growth despite the bleak economic climate. Cash Generator, which is a buy, sell and loan franchise, has seen tremendous growth in quality applications and this has seen them open 15 new franchises in the UK.

The economic conditions have been the main reason why people are opting for franchising because with franchising comes security, in the form of franchisor support and a low failure rate. This is also why banks prefer investing in franchises compared to other businesses.

The fact that the economy is still under the dreaded ‘r’ word and the fact that Cash Generator has a strong market position, is why many people want to franchise with them. After a fantastic year, Cash Generator already has big plans for 2009. Cash Generator is now looking to branch out further south and is looking for entrepreneurs who want to invest or maybe even manage multiple stores.

With a current network of 80 stores, spread over England, Scotland and Wales, Cash Generator wants to include more in its successful family. They are looking for individuals who are dedicated and possess a drive to succeed, overcoming the various challenges presented and the bleak economic climate.

A new business sounds like a daring move in these times of recession and that is why most people who wish to have a business of their own are opting for franchising. With franchising comes the support and training of an experienced franchisor and even banks prefer lending money and investing in franchisees compared to other businesses because franchisees have lower failure rate compared to other businesses.

Caremark, a domiciliary care franchise is one such experienced franchisor with its network of franchisees nationwide and has just recently finished its fourth franchise training course for the year 2008.

This course saw franchisees coming from across the UK for the two week residential course that was held at the head office in West Sussex.

According to Managing Director, Kevin Lewis, Caremark’s training is structured in such a way that it includes every aspect of the business. The industry demands dedication and hard work and this is exactly what prepares new franchisee owners for the challenges to follow.

The franchisees that will be visiting will also benefit from the regional quarterly meetings. The last meeting was held in October and this meeting had focused on the many aspects of running a franchise and your own business.

The Card Connection franchise is an ideal choice if you are looking for a franchise that will help you to make good money and improve your lifestyle. Card Connection has not only been a full BFA member since 1994, it is also viewed as one of the UK’s finest run franchise businesses.

In the UK and Ireland, there are more than 100 Card Connection franchise owners who are serving approximately 16,000 retail outlets. The Card Connection franchise places greeting cards on batch and acts similar to the local wholesaler.

The advantages of a Card Connection franchise are as follows:

Excellent income from well established businesses: For over a decade, the Card Connection franchise has enjoyed nationwide distribution. This will lead to income from day one. Card Connection have inspected all the franchises for sale and decided to offer them at goodwill prices. The franchises will ensure return on capital and a good income.

Flexibility: The majority of the Card Connection franchisees operate from home, hence it involves fewer expenses. You only need to have storage space, a vehicle for transportation, a computer and a telephone.

Outstanding variety: In every day card range, there are approximately 800 cards. Cards are available in a variety of types to meet the need of the UK greeting card market. Card Connection also has a range of gift products.