descriptionThe Franchise Dossier
FDD Sourced
Independent analysis. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by RE/MAX. All figures sourced from public FDD filings.
Franchise dossier · Real estate brokerage

Owning a RE/MAX: what actually happens

VERDICT · ASSET — IF YOU SCALE
A recruiting business wearing a real estate brand — and the recruiting environment has gotten significantly harder since 2019 as cloud brokerages took the desk-fee model apart.
You'd pocket / yr*
$40K–$90K
1 unit · before your salary
Your time
50–65 hrs/wk
owner-operator
Becomes an asset at
~1 unit
real wealth: 30–50+ agents
Agreement term
5 yrs
then renewal
Year one, honestly

Year one is a recruiting sprint. You need roughly 15–20 agents paying desk fees just to cover your RE/MAX fees, office lease, and basic staffing. Most new RE/MAX owners are still actively selling real estate themselves to pay their own salary while building the agent roster — you're doing two full-time jobs simultaneously. The competitive environment makes recruiting harder than it was: eXp and REAL Broker offer agents higher splits with no desk fee until a sale closes, a value proposition that RE/MAX's brand recognition struggles to counter. Worth knowing: RE/MAX Holdings was acquired by Real Brokerage (REAX) in August 2026, so the brand's strategic direction and support infrastructure are in transition.

If you want out

You can sell a RE/MAX territory, but the buyer pool is thin — who's starting a new brokerage in a declining-agent environment? Value is entirely your agent headcount, which can walk out the door before a sale closes. Larger offices with a stable roster can sell at a meaningful multiple of cash flow; small owner-operator shops often close rather than sell. The 2026 acquisition adds a layer of uncertainty about what a buyer is actually buying in terms of future brand support.

Smart for

Experienced real estate brokers or managers who already have a network of agent relationships they can convert to desk-fee payers, and who understand they're building a recruiting business inside a real estate brand.

Dumb for

Career changers who think buying RE/MAX means selling homes under a trusted national brand. It means managing a brokerage, competing with cloud-based competitors for agent talent — and doing so with declining brand momentum.

The disclosure it's built on

The verdict above is our read of the numbers RE/MAX files with regulators — here they are, cited.

RE/MAXFDD 2026
Item 5 · Initial franchise fee
$35,000
Item 7 · Initial investment
$37,100 – $336,500
Item 6 · Royalty
1% of agents' GCI + per-agent desk fees (~$143–$170/agent/mo to RE/MAX)
Item 6 · Ad / brand fund
Marketing fund ~$127–$140/agent/mo + annual dues $410/agent
Item 19 · Avg unit revenue
Not disclosed
Item 20 · US units (~2024)
3,000
SOURCEFranchise Direct 2026 FDD (Item 5, 6, 7, no Item 19), franchiseoverview.com, freefdds.com, RE/MAX Holdings SEC 10-K FY2024 (agent count, corporate revenue per agent). Acquisition: RealEstateNews.com 2026-08-24. High confidence: investment range, fee range, no Item 19. Medium confidence: US unit count (~3,000 from multiple FDD aggregator sources). Fee upper end $35K per most sources; some registrations show up to $37,500.
The catch

RE/MAX was acquired by Real Brokerage in August 2026 (now Real REMAX Group / REAX) — strategic direction under new ownership is unresolved. That aside, the structural catch predates the acquisition: you're running a recruiting business, not a real estate business. Your revenue is entirely agent-count driven — agents pay you desk fees to affiliate with the RE/MAX brand. If agents defect to eXp, REAL Broker, or Compass (which charge no desk fee until a sale closes), your revenue disappears immediately. US RE/MAX agent count has declined roughly 6.5% year-over-year since ~2019 as cloud-based brokerages compete on economics. The market you're entering already has structural headwinds.

*How to read these numbers. Disclosed: Item 5 ($8,750–$35K), Item 7 ($37K–$337K), no Item 19. Desk-fee structure from FDD Item 6 (Franchise Direct analysis). Take-home estimate ($40K–$90K) is for brokerage operations only, before owner's personal production — modeled on 15–25 agent office at $300–$500/agent/month net desk fee after RE/MAX fees. Industry estimate, not FDD-sourced. Acquisition: Real Brokerage/RE/MAX Holdings completed Aug 2026 (SEC filings). — "You'd pocket" is estimated owner cash flow for one average unit before a salary for your own full-time work, so it is not take-home pay. Averages are not promises; your unit could earn far less. This is analysis, not advice — read the current FDD in full and talk to current and former franchisees before you commit.

Seriously considering RE/MAX?

Pressure-test the affordability, then read the full FDD and validate Item 19 (or its absence) with existing franchisees. When we add vetted franchise-consultant and financing partners, they'll be clearly disclosed here and never change our analysis.

Run a rough affordability check →