HomeVestors of America Inc., the company famous for its “We Buy Ugly Houses” billboards, released a list of the top 10 markets for real estate investing in the third quarter of 2008:

  1. Dallas, Texas
  2. Houston, Texas
  3. Fort Worth, Texas
  4. Atlanta, Georgia
  5. San Antonio, Texas
  6. Denver, Colorado
  7. St. Louis, Missouri
  8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  9. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10. Richmond, Virginia

HomeVestors, which has purchased more than 36,000 homes in the United States over the last 12 years, based the findings on the number of houses bought in each market by its franchise network during the third quarter of 2008.

“This continues to be an ugly year for residential real estate, creating record-setting demand for a trusted national home buyer,” said John Hayes, president and CEO of HomeVestors. “And HomeVestors franchisees continue to pay cash for houses, an increasingly attractive solution for thousands of homeowners also addressing one of the worst credit crises in our nation's history.”

HomeVestors is the only national franchise that specializes in buying, rehabbing, and selling single-family homes across the nation, the company said in a press statement. HomeVestors has more than 230 franchises in 35 states.