Lakefront Living International Targets Smith Mountain Lake for Virginia Expansion

Lakefront Living Realty is quickly making a name for itself across the country as a unique real estate franchise opportunity that focuses exclusively on the buying and selling of lakefront properties. The brand’s franchisees are passionate about the lakefront lifestyle and thrilled to share that enthusiasm with their customers.

Lakefront Living Realty’s current reach extends throughout New England, the Midwest and the southern U.S., with franchises established in and around major lake strongholds like the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri and plans to expand into markets such as Lake Norman in North Carolina .

Another key market in which Lakefront Living is actively pursuing franchise partners is Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.

“Smith Mountain Lake has the market size we thrive in as it relates to the number of lakefront homes that are bought and sold every year,” CEO Scott Freerksen said. “There is an incredibly strong number of homes for sale annually, which gives way to the usefulness of our expertise in the Smith Mountain Lake area. Because the real estate market is so strong, there is a lot of competition from independent brokers, but also a lot of opportunity for a broker with our backing and expertise to achieve market domination as a lake home specialist and Lakefront Living franchisee.”

Located in southwestern Virginia, Smith Mountain Lake—often referred to as the Jewel of the Blue Ridge Mountains—is the second-largest body of freshwater in the Old Dominion, with 500 miles of shoreline, according to Virginia.org . The lake is close to major camping hubs such as Smith Mountain Lake State Park, which boasts 1,248 acres of beautiful nature to be enjoyed.

There’s also another major reason Smith Mountain Lake would make for an exceptionally lucrative franchise opportunity: It is close to a number of Virginia cities that house major universities. “Smith Mountain Lake is a relatively short drive to cities such as Roanoke, Lynchburg and Blacksburg, which are filled with colleges and major universities,” Freerksen said.

Blacksburg, located less than two hours from Smith Mountain Lake, is home to Virginia Tech, a university with more than 33,000 students. Roanoke is a one-hour drive away and home to major schools such as Roanoke College and Hollins University, while Lynchburg is home to Liberty University and the University of Lynchburg, among other institutions of higher education. Thanks to this proximity to major university hubs, a Lakefront Living franchisee at Smith Mountain Lake has the opportunity to market to thousands of educators and administrators.

“This proximity helps because we're looking for both a strong full-time resident market and secondary vacation market, which Smith Mountain Lake has, too,” Freerksen said.

The ideal Lakefront Living franchisee should have a strong passion for the lakefront lifestyle, have the desire to operate a home-based business and be based in a region with a significant amount of lakefront properties. With the brand’s support—and its 10 Keys to Lakefront Market Dominatio n, in particular—Lakefront Living franchisees can quickly become the go-to lakefront property expert in their market. Franchisees should also be open to expanding their reach beyond a single lakefront market, which the Lakefront Living franchise model encourages .

“We sell the first right of refusal for an entire state to a franchisee, meaning one franchisee would own the market with the potential to expand to other lakes in the state,” Freerksen said.

Above all, though, a Lakefront Living franchisee in Smith Mountain Lake must have an emotional connection to the lakefront lifestyle that they are eager and excited to pass on to the buyers and sellers with whom they will interact with.

“In order to succeed, franchisees have to ‘get it’—you can’t fake that lake passion,” Lakefront Living co-owner Christine Mosier said. “They must have a deep desire to connect with others who share their passion and genuinely enjoy helping people buy and sell lakefront real estate.”