Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender
RE/MAX
Real Estate · independent · est. —
RE/MAX is one of the largest real estate brokerage networks, where independent agents help people buy and sell homes and commercial property. The brand provides the name, tools, and referral network while agents work largely on commission. A franchisee owns a brokerage office, recruiting and supporting agents who handle transactions.
RE/MAX net unit count grew +502.4% from 2021–2025 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. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- 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 and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Proven & steady
Distress
A real track record with an unremarkable region of the ledger: neither the growth nor the exits stand out, for better or worse. The main concern in the record: the system is shrinking.
Exit rate · latest year
8.4%
vs 9.9% across 16 real estate systems
Cost to open
$37K–$337K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
14.6%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · 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
Systemwide units
2021–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 266 of 3,149 franchised outlets left the system — a 8.4% annualized exit rate, vs 9.9% across 16 real estate systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 517 | 497 | 3,477 | 3,358 | 3,149 |
| Opened | 18 | 29 | 201 | 130 | 111 |
| Transfers | 24 | 7 | 91 | 95 | 107 |
| Terminations | 4 | 2 | 106 | 101 | 22 |
| Non-renewals | 16 | 17 | 96 | 92 | 88 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 12 | 5 | 118 | 146 | 156 |
| Outlets at end | 497 | 502 | 3,358 | 3,149 | 2,994 |
| Net change | -20 | +5 | -119 | -209 | -155 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 398 SBA-backed loans to RE/MAX franchisees since 1992. Of the 261 that have resolved, 14.6% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
14.6%
38 of 261 resolved defaulted
64.2%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
9.3%
default rate × loss severity
$602,809
what recent franchisees borrowed
58 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
22 vs 30
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO RE/MAX BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
the Huntington National Bank
7.5% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 10.1% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
81.4%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
+0.6pp
multi-unit vs single-unit owners
Owners of multiple units default at 12.8%; single-unit owners at 12.2%.
Computed from 398 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to RE/MAX franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $35K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $37K–$337K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.
To open (Item 7)
$37K–$337K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$35K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
1%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — this brand discloses no Item 19 earnings; validate with current & former owners.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$10K
1% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$100K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for RE/MAX with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 4 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $6K in back wages for 4 workers. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
4
Back wages owed
$6K
Employees affected
4
Since 2020
0
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual RE/MAX franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not RE/MAX itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2018.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 83% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
17 / 100
Measured
Modeled SBA charge-off
8.3%
Observed SBA charge-off
14.6%
Top drivers: System size (log units) (lowers) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Item 3 litigation (log) (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (raises). 50+ resolved loans and complete disclosure data — the score is checkable against the brand's observed rate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Franchise litigation docket: RE/MAX LLC v. MMS Investment Group, LLC (District Court, D. Colorado)
CourtListener/RECAP · 4mo ago
Franchise litigation docket: Roher v. RE/MAX, LLC (District Court, M.D. Florida)
CourtListener/RECAP · 5mo ago
Franchise litigation docket: RE/MAX, LLC v. Beachside Ventures, Inc. (District Court, D. Colorado)
CourtListener/RECAP · 17mo ago
Franchise litigation docket: RE/MAX, LLC v. JL United Realty, LLC (District Court, D. Colorado)
CourtListener/RECAP · 30mo ago
Franchise litigation docket: Siegle v. Re/Max LLC (District Court, D. Colorado)
CourtListener/RECAP · 32mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing RE/MAX's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →RE/MAX franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of RE/MAX franchises closed last year?
In RE/MAX's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 266 of 3,149 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 8.4% — compared with 9.9% across 16 real estate systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a RE/MAX franchise cost?
Per RE/MAX's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $35K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $37K–$337K (Item 7).
What royalty does RE/MAX charge?
RE/MAX charges an ongoing royalty of 1.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does RE/MAX disclose earnings (Item 19)?
No — RE/MAX's 2026 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.
How often do SBA loans for RE/MAX franchises default?
Across 398 SBA-backed loans to RE/MAX franchisees since 1992, 38 of the 261 that have resolved were charged off — a 14.6% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.