RE/MAX

Early history: 1973–76

RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave Liniger and Gail Main in Denver, Colorado.[4][5][6]

It was established with a maximum commission concept, meaning that agents would keep nearly all of their commissions and pay their broker a share of the office expenses, rather than paying their broker a share of the commission of each sale, which is common in residential real estate.[7]

In 1975, Dennis Curtin purchased the first RE/MAX franchise outside of Colorado, in Kansas City, Missouri.[8] Growing to 100 franchises in two years,[9][10] it has held an annual convention since its first one was held in Las Vegas in 1976.[10]

International expansion: 1977–98

It opened its first office outside the U.S. in 1977, when Don Fernie started RE/MAX South in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[11] Having 30 Canadian franchises by 1981, RE/MAX became the top real estate company in that country six years later.[12]

Having made its inaugural flight at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico,[6] the RE/MAX Hot Air Balloon—a red, white and blue hot air balloon—was introduced in 1978,[13][14] becoming its official logo the following year. Expanding beyond North America with the formation of RE/MAX Europe in 1994, it also began operating in Germany, Italy, Spain, and South Africa.[15]

In November 1994, RE/MAX Satellite Network was launched in the US as a sales training system for real estate. Later renamed RE/MAX University, it debuted at the NAR Convention in Anaheim, California,[6] and offered training, professional designation courses, and company news.[3]

In 1998, two years after his company expanded into Australia and New Zealand,[16] Liniger attempted the first manned balloon flight around the world in a stratospheric gas balloon.[17][18][19][20] The flight was canceled due to design and weather problems.[21]

Online expansion and IPO: 2006–present

In 2006, three years before it was reported that its franchises were present in 70 countries,[4] RE/MAX began to list all U.S. homes for sale on its website, including homes being sold by competitors.[22][23] By 2011, the company already had more than 6,000 franchises.[24]

In April 2010, the Obama administration announced the "Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives" (HAFA) program.[25] Leaders from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Bank of America detailed the initiative while participating in a live national broadcast held at RE/MAX headquarters.[26]

In 2013, UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk released a report which alleged that real estate groups, such as RE/MAX, found to promote or sell properties in Israeli settlements may be held liable for complicity in the crime of promoting settlement activity in occupied territory.[27][28] In 2015, RE/MAX Israel was still selling properties in 18 different Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.[29]

With over 15,000 agents in Europe, the company expanded into China by opening an office in Beijing.[30]

In November 2015, two years after its first IPO raised $220 million,[31] RE/MAX Holdings Inc completed its second offering of approximately $185 million,[32] holding a 58.3% stake and RIHI owns 41.7% of RE/MAX LLC. Total diluted share count (public and private) as of December 31 was 30.2 million shares.[33][34][35]

Operating in about 100 countries, RE/MAX maintained the largest corporate fleet of hot air balloons in the world (115) in 2016.[36][37] Furthermore, covering Minnesota and Wisconsin, RE/MAX Results was declared its largest franchise, with 1,200 agents and an average of 20 transactions per agent.[38]

Two years later, former president Geoff Lewis[39] and Liniger[40] retired after leaving their roles, with responsibilities passing to CEO Adam Contos. That same year, it was reported that he had violated the firm's ethics by lending a multimillion-dollar sum of his own personal money to Contos.[41]