Ready for a new name in real estate franchising? Fresh from the US, the Better Homes and Gardens license is being introduced to Australia through a master franchise agreement.

The real estate business will benefit from the high profile multi-media branding of one of Australia’s best known lifestyle TV shows and publications. The media brand has a total reach of 7.4 million people across its print, broadcast, digital and social channels.

While the business will list properties through a wide base of online channels the link with the Pacific Magazines’ popular brand gives the real estate franchise access to 2.5 million readers of Better Homes and Gardens (BHG) monthly publication.

Simon Cashman, project manager for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Australia, told Inside Franchise Business, “Real estate can flourish in magazines, there will be properties advertised in real estate listings,” he explained. “Pacific Magazines has a really broad sweeping readership. That’s something quite unattainable any other way,” said Cashman. “This is value add. Print still has penetration.”

Not only will the real estate business leverage its brand through media opportunities, the shopfronts themselves will be branded experiences with the emphasis on engagement rather than a property hard sell.

“We want them to be warm and welcoming offices, with a kiosk where consumers can download recipes, watch the shows, come in and engage with the brand, not just be chased up by an agent,” said Cashman. “We have a big opportunity to focus on women in real estate, and make this a feminine brand.”

In fact the operators will be considered service providers rather than agents, and they will be able to offer more than a property transaction. The newest name on the real estate scene will offer a distinctive service focused on supporting home owners from purchase through maintenance and refurbishment.

The concept is to continue the relationship with clients through the average seven years between buying and selling a home. This will take the shape of aligning with brands in the wider BHG community for tasks and jobs that will maintain and improve the home’s value – landscaping, repairs or refurbishment, for instance.

“We want to make homes worth more,” said Cashman.

Since announcing the brand arrival, there has been strong interest from existing real estate agents.

“There are plenty who would like to offer more, people who are genuinely empathetic,” he said.

A launch in a few months in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will allow those who have expressed initial interest to find out more about this real estate opportunity.

“We want people who can set up a franchise office really quickly,” said Cashman, who was not specific about the target growth, simply saying the goal is “substantial offices in the last quarter of this year”.

Longer term the plans are to extend the brand in to the New Zealand market.