The story of RE/MAX begins with the company's name, which is short for "real estate maximums." Founded in Denver in 1973 by Dave Liniger, who is still chairman of the board, and his wife Gail, the company began with a mission to offer higher real estate commissions to real estate agents at a time when real estate companies kept as much as half of each sale for themselves.
RE/MAX Franchising Growth
RE/MAX has been franchising since 1973, one year after rival Century 21 started doing so. Today, RE/MAX claims 115,000 real estate agents in its international network of 65 countries. Although RE/MAX does not disclose this on its web site, the franchise information site FranchiseMall.com says that the initial fee for a RE/MAX franchise ranges from $10,000 to $25,000, and that royalty fees and total investment can vary from $37,000 all the way up to $200,000. In exchange for this investment, franchisees receive administrative support, advertising support, online tools, access to leads generated from Remax.com and association with RE/MAX's brand.
Differentiators for RE/MAX Franchisees
RE/MAX has invested heavily in Remax.com, which the independent traffic ranking company Alexa rates higher than Century21.com and ColdwellBanker.com in terms of online page views. RE/MAX claims that the company's site had aggregated over 3.1 million listings by 2006, and that it is generating roughly 2 million leads a year for RE/MAX associates.
RE/MAX commissioned its own back-end system, named LeadStreet, to send leads generated from the web site directly to RE/MAX associates' e-mail addresses, cell phones and mobile devices.
The Remax.com website is an example of the RE/MAX philosophy in action. The site came into being when RE/MAX decided to aggregate all available Internet listings from multiple listing services organizations all over the nation and make them available to RE/MAX agents for no charge. Before RE/MAX did so, in 2005, listings were generally exchanged between brokerage agencies but kept away from smaller agents.
RE/MAX's aggregation of the listings not only resulted in the largest searchable real estate database in the country, according to the company, but also promoted the idea of real estate listings as a public utility rather than a privately hoarded resource. This populist idea was very much in keeping with founder Dave Liniger's motto of "everybody wins."
RE/MAX Benefits For Buyers and Sellers
Remax.com remains a highly trafficked site, one that brings a lot of viewers to both residential and commercial listings. Remax.com offers a separate property search interface for luxury homes and foreign properties, and it allows users to input their own parameters, such as neighborhood, home price range, number of bedrooms, square footage and other variables. Buyers who don't find what they're looking for can submit an online "want" form detailing their preferences. Local RE/MAX agents will then work with the buyers directly to find the right home.
In addition to operating the database, Remax.com offers mortgage calculators, pricing guides, basic real estate articles and other material designed to complement the buying and selling processes.
Finally, RE/MAX has partnered with Bank of America to offer prospective buyers access to loan prequalification and other mortgage and home-equity services on Remax.com.
RE/MAX's Outlook
Unlike Century 21 and other real estate franchises, RE/MAX still has its founders involved with the operation of the company. To date, this has proved a plus, since Dave Liniger has made strong decisions over the years, including the decision to commit heavily to the Internet in the early 1990s. However, RE/MAX has never had to go through an executive succession, and it remains to be seen whether the company's distinctive culture can survive without the Linigers. Since most of RE/MAX's executive suite consists of company insiders, the chances are high that RE/MAX will retain its character.
RE/MAX's size and reputation may insulate the company from tough times in the residential real estate market, and RE/MAX has also diffused its risk by expanding into more than 60 countries. RE/MAX may expand more aggressively into the commercial real estate market, which is not the company's primary competence.
How to Contact RE/MAX
The RE/MAX web site is the best way to contact the company, whether you want to locate a local office or find an agent or request information from the corporate office about becoming a franchisee.
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