Understand any stock in simple English
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RE/MAX Holdings, Inc.
RE/MAX sells franchises to real estate agents and mortgage brokers, letting them use its famous brand and tools while they run their own offices.
RE/MAX is a franchisor of real estate brokerages. It doesn't sell houses itself. Instead, it sells the right to use the RE/MAX name, its red-white-and-blue balloon logo, and its training and technology systems to independent agents and office owners. Those agents do the actual work of helping people buy and sell homes, and they keep most of their commissions. RE/MAX mainly collects fixed fees and a slice of each office's revenue. It also owns Motto Mortgage, a smaller franchise network that does the same thing for mortgage brokers.
The appeal to agents is the brand and the split. Traditional brokerages often take a big cut of each commission, while RE/MAX offices tend to charge agents a flat fee or a smaller share, letting top sellers keep more of what they earn. The appeal to RE/MAX is that it mostly avoids the cost and risk of running thousands of offices: its franchisees pay for staff, desks, and local marketing. That made it a high-margin business for years, with royalty fees flowing in whether the housing market was hot or cold. The company's history has a famous twist. It was started in 1973 by Dave Liniger and Gail Liniger, who wanted to build a brokerage where agents kept more of their commissions. The name came from "real estate maximums." The business grew into a global brand with offices in more than 100 countries, but its public-market life ended: sources checked today say its shares no longer trade, and it is now owned privately rather than being a listed stock. That change matters for anyone reading old ticker data.
The weak spot is that RE/MAX depends heavily on the housing market and on keeping agents and franchisees happy. When home sales slow, agents earn less, offices close, and franchise fees shrink. Competition is fierce from rival franchise networks and from big brokerages that spend heavily on technology and marketing. Its recent years have been about managing that pressure and trying to grow Motto Mortgage alongside the core real estate brand.
Saved answer · last researched 14 Nov 2026