RE/MAX was founded in January 1973 by Dave Liniger and Gail Main (who later married Liniger and became Gail Liniger) in Denver, Colorado.[4][5][6]
The company 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] The company grew to 100 franchises in two years.[9][10] RE/MAX held its first convention in Las Vegas in 1976, which became an annual event.[10]
International expansion: 1977–98
The RE/MAX hot air balloon at a balloon festival. RE/MAX introduced its hot air balloon logo in 1978 as part of its "Above the Crowd" advertising campaign.
RE/MAX opened its first office outside the United States in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1977, started by Don Fernie as RE/MAX South.[11] By 1981, the company had 30 franchises in Canada,[citation needed] and in 1987, RE/MAX became the top real estate company in Canada.[12]
In 1994, the company expanded outside North America with the establishment of RE/MAX Europe. Regional operations expanded in Germany, Italy, Spain, and South Africa.[15]
In November 1994, the RE/MAX Satellite Network (RSN; renamed RE/MAX University in the 2000s)—a satellite training system for real estate—was launched in the US, debuting at the National Association of Realtors Convention in Anaheim, California.[6] The RSN offered training, professional designation courses, and company news.[2]
RE/MAX expanded to Australia and New Zealand in 1996.[16]
In 1998, 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
RE/MAX office in Canada
In 2006, RE/MAX began to list all U.S. homes for sale on its website, including homes being sold by competitors.[22][23] By 2009, the company had franchises in 70 countries.[4]
In 2013, UN Special RapporteurRichard 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] As of November 2015, RE/MAX Israel was still selling properties in 18 different Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.[29]
Business building listed by RE/MAXRE/MAX For Sale sign
RE/MAX Holdings Inc raised $220 million in its initial public offering (IPO) in 2013.[30] A secondary offering was completed of approximately $185 million in November 2015.[31] REMAX Holdings owns 58.3% and RIHI owns 41.7% of RE/MAX LLC. Total diluted share count (public and private) as of December 31, 2015, was 30.2 million shares.[32][33][34]
The company expanded into China in 2014 by opening an office in Beijing. The company had more than 15,000 agents in Europe.[35] As of 2016, RE/MAX operates in about 100 countries and has more than 115 hot air balloons in operation, the largest corporate hot air balloon fleet in the world.[36][37]
In 2016, they named Re/Max Results, a franchisee covering most of Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin as their largest franchisee.[38] with more than 1200 agents, and averaging more than 20 transactions per agent.
In 2018, former president of the company Geoff Lewis,[39] and Liniger[40] stepped down from their roles to retire. Responsibilities were handed to CEO Adam Contos. In 2018 it was announced that Liniger had violated company ethics with a multi-million-dollar loan of his own personal money to Contos.[41]
Subsidiaries
In addition to RE/MAX LLC, RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. owns two other brands.
Motto Mortgage (Motto Franchising, LLC) is the first national mortgage brokerage franchise brand in the United States. Motto was launched by RE/MAX in 2016.[3]
Wemlo (stylized as wemlo) is a fintech company that provides third-party mortgage loan processing services. The company was founded in early 2019 as a startup in Florida by David Rogove and Steven Gelley. RE/MAX Holdings announced its acquisition of wemlo on September 1, 2020.[3]
Philanthropy
In 1992, RE/MAX became a sponsor of Children's Miracle Network.[42] The company hosts art auctions, organizes golf tournaments, and encourages agent fundraising activities. Collectively, all RE/MAX affiliates have raised $147 million for the Children's Miracle Network hospitals in over 20 years of sponsorship.[43]
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$307 million (2024) [1] 
