PropertyGuys.com Inc. is ‘Cutting Out the Middleman’ to Save Homeowners Thousands

May 9, 2006 – Moncton, NB: Canada’s leading private sale real estate franchise company today unveiled an aggressive new campaign designed both to expand and revolutionize its highly successful operations in the coming year.

Building on its double-digit growth rate in 2005, PropertyGuys.com announced the rollout of a new online listing tool that will provide home sellers with an unprecedented degree of self-service and customization. This launch will help the company capitalize on an entirely new segment of the private sale market.

The announcement accompanied the PropertyGuys.com web traffic report, which shows an increase of more than 200 per cent over last year.

Company president and co-founder, Ken LeBlanc believes that this latest announcement will aid in accelerating the already large gap between PropertyGuys.com and their competitors. “With this technology enhancement, users can now upload and manage their own listings. We feel that this tool will open up a whole new market segment for PropertyGuys.com and our franchisees. It allows us to offer our product to all consumers in communities across the nation, even in areas where we don’t yet have offices,” says LeBlanc.

This new offering was just one of several exciting developments that was announced internally at the PropertyGuys.com second annual National Franchise Convention in Moncton, N.B. (April 2006), the theme of which was, “Raising the Bar: East Meets West 2006”.

Last year, the company’s franchise base grew by more than 62 per cent. This year the company is focusing on building its Ontario market share and on its U.S. expansion plan. PropertyGuys.com Inc. has a network of over 65 licensed franchise units across the country, and 2006 is off to a phenomenal start – opening an average of one new franchise office every week.

“Beyond this,” LeBlanc says, “we’re launching a new media campaign for 2006. The theme is ‘Go Big or Stay Home’, with the sub-theme, ‘Cut out the Middleman’. We are accelerating public awareness of our consumer-led alternative to real estate commissions. This nationwide campaign will be aired on TV and radio in key markets around the country. There is also a very aggressive door to door marketing campaign aimed at informing the public of the simplicity of the private sale process. Nearly 25 per cent of all Canadian sellers have already realized selling privately is not difficult and that number is climbing daily!”

Indeed, since its establishment in 1998, Moncton-based ProprtyGuys.com has been a true Canadian success story. Emphasizing its unique brand of sales and marketing, it has pioneered the flat rate, commission-free, private sale model, and has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Most Successful Canadian Franchise systems by Canadian Franchise Magazine. Mr. Leblanc has also been recognized as an Atlantic Canadian Top 50 CEO for the past four consecutive years and the PropertyGuys.com team has collected a number of business and community awards.

“It’s hard to give agents money that is just not there,” LeBlanc says. “The web has opened a huge debate over high commission fees, and agents appear to be losing the battle. Consumer want choice, control and savings and that is what PropertyGuys.com Inc. is all about.”