From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source
2021 FDD · 4+ years old — too old to rate
HomeSmart
Residential real estate brokerage · parent company: not identified
HomeSmart is a residential real estate brokerage franchise known for a flat-fee, technology-enabled model that lets agents keep more of their commission. A franchisee operates a brokerage office, recruiting and supporting agents whose home sales generate the office's transaction-based revenue.
HomeSmart net unit count grew 20.4% over 2018–2020 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.
Our rating · opinion
Filing too old to rate
The newest FDD we hold for this brand is from 2021, more than two years old. Franchise systems change a lot in that time, so we don't rate it until we have a current filing.
Exit rate · fiscal 2020
1.6%
vs 7.8% median across 8 comparable systems (residential real estate brokerage)
Cost to open
$66K–$205K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan losses
Too few to rate
5 seasoned resolved loans; 30 needed
Market density · Arizona
Dense market
73% denser than the national average
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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from HomeSmart's public FDD filings (latest: MN 2021, extracted 2026-07-23) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.
What each source says
FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor
We don't rate on an FDD more than two years old; the loan record and model are shown as context until a current filing arrives.
FDD record · Item 20
Filing too old
Latest FDD we hold is from 2021.
SBA loans · vs same-year loans
Too few seasoned loans
5 resolved loans approved by FY2020; 30 needed.
Modeled risk
Lower risk
Directional only — too few seasoned loans to check it.
Auditor opinion · Item 21
Clean opinion
Unqualified audit, 2021 FDD. Says nothing about franchisee results.
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
latest consecutive years · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness · shown, not counted in the verdict
Systemwide units
2018–2020
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2020, 2 of 126 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 1.6% (fiscal 2020), vs a 7.8% median across 8 comparable systems (residential real estate brokerage). An exit is not a failure: this counts terminations, non-renewals and "ceased — other reasons" as reported, and excludes transfers to new owners.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 130 | 150 | 172 |
| Opened | 40 | 18 | 21 |
| Transfers | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Terminations | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Non-renewals | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 152 | 172 | 183 |
| Net change | +22 | +22 | +11 |
The franchisor's own finances
FDD ITEM 21 · AUDITED STATEMENTS · 2021 FDD
Baldwin Moffitt PLLC gave an unmodified (clean) opinion on the statements in the 2021 FDD; revenue rose 35% from FY2018 to FY2020 and it reported a net loss in FY2018.
This is the company selling the franchise, not any franchisee. A clean opinion means the statements are fairly presented — not that the business is healthy.
Audit opinion
Unmodified (clean) opinion
Baldwin Moffitt PLLC
Revenue · FY2020
$13.0M
extracted · not cross-checked
Net income · FY2020
$2.3M
extracted · not cross-checked
Where FY2020 revenue came from
Royalty share not extracted
initial-fee share not extracted
Show the statement figures ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Fiscal year | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $9.6Mextracted · not cross-checked | $11.0Mextracted · not cross-checked | $13.0Mextracted · not cross-checked |
| Net income (loss) | −$118Kextracted · not cross-checked | $2.3Mextracted · not cross-checked | $2.3Mextracted · not cross-checked |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan outcomes · compared with franchise loans of the same years
Banks have made 17 SBA-backed loans to HomeSmart franchisees since 2015. Only 5 of its loans approved by FY2020 have resolved — fewer than the 30 we need to compare it fairly with other franchise loans, so we don't rate it.
All-time, 0 of 7 resolved loans charged off (0.0%). That raw figure mixes every approval year since 2015 — loans made in 2006–08 failed at several times the rate of loans made in 2010–13 across all franchises — so it is shown as evidence, not as the score. 59% of the brand's loans have not resolved yet.
—
5 seasoned resolved · 30 needed
0.0%
0 of 7 resolved, every approval year
—
charged-off $ ÷ approved $, defaulted loans
$471,911
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
shown with 10+ defaults
5 vs 6
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%) · dashed line = all franchise loans that year
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO HOMESMART BY SBA FRANCHISE NAME/CODE · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL · EXPECTED = SAME-YEAR RATE ACROSS ALL SBA FRANCHISE LOANS, LOANS ≥ ~6 YEARS OLD
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $20,000 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $66K–$205K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.
To open (Item 7)
$66K–$205K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$20,000
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
See Item 6
not a single flat % — read the fee table
This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on agent commission splits, office costs, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).
Build a real pro-forma for HomeSmart with a buyer-paid CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · a prediction from disclosure and loan-file features
The model puts this brand in its lower-risk band — but this brand has too few seasoned SBA loans to check the score against, so read it as a band, not a number.
Risk percentile
Lower risk
Directional · no point estimate
Modeled · vs same-year loans
band only
too few seasoned loans to check
Top drivers: No Item 19 disclosure (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · Item 3 litigation (log) (raises). Too few seasoned SBA loans to check the score — read it as a band. A linear scorecard trained on brands' vintage-adjusted SBA loss records; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Public records
Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored
We have no verified public-record signals published for HomeSmart. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.
7 questions to ask a HomeSmart franchisee
Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls
The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These questions come from what HomeSmart has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.
- 01
HomeSmart’s own Item 20 shows 2 of 126 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2020 — about 1.6%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?
A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.
FDD Item 20 · FY2020
- 02
HomeSmart’s FDD makes no financial performance representation at all — legally, they've told buyers nothing about earnings. What did your first 24 months actually look like, month by month?
When a franchisor won't publish numbers, existing owners are the only source. Silence in Item 19 is a choice, not a requirement.
FDD Item 19 · 2021
- 03
How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?
Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.
Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner
- 04
Item 3 discloses 1 legal matter. Do you know what it was about, and was it brought by franchisees?
Franchisee-brought suits over territory, fees or support tell you how the franchisor behaves when there's a disagreement.
FDD Item 3 · 2021
- 05
What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?
Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.
FDD Items 6, 8, 11
- 06
If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?
The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.
Ask every owner you speak to
- 07
Who else should I call — including someone who left?
The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.
Ask every owner you speak to
Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?
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A broker is usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing HomeSmart’s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.
HomeSmart franchise questions, answered from the filings
How many HomeSmart franchised outlets left the system last year?
In HomeSmart's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2020), 2 of 126 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 1.6% — compared with a 7.8% median across 8 comparable systems (residential real estate brokerage) tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons" as the franchisor reported them; it excludes transfers to new owners. The FDD does not say why each outlet left, and an exit is not the same as a failure.
How much does a HomeSmart franchise cost?
Per HomeSmart's 2021 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $20,000 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $66K–$205K (Item 7).
Does HomeSmart disclose earnings (Item 19)?
No — HomeSmart's 2021 FDD makes no financial performance representation in Item 19. That is legal and common, but it means the franchisor publishes no earnings claim; ask current franchisees for real numbers.