An Inside Look At RE/MAX

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It is a common question as to why RE/MAX has become the top producing company, not only in our region, but in North America and the world.  On this page, you will be given a quick, historical snap shot of how RE/MAX was begun and why.  On the next two pages you will discover what the RE/MAX concept means to you and what the local results have been.

Real estate offices in the early 1970s, and many today, mostly operated by the commission-split system, requiring agents to give up to half of their sales commission to brokers in exchange for office and company services. Top agents contributed the most, supporting new, low-producing and part-time agents. Most salespeople leave the business within two years, making it a high-turnover industry full of inexperienced and unprofessional staffs.

In 1973, Dave and Gail Liniger decided to change all that.

"We had lofty goals from the very first day," says Dave Liniger (ABR, CRB), RE/MAX International Chairman. "We were so young and naive; we had no idea how great the odds were against us even to survive locally, let alone expand globally. We just knew we wanted to build the best real estate company in the world."

Such a network could not be based on the standard commission-split concept, they agreed. A 100-percent plan had been tried in Canada in the 1940s, but had been met with minimal success. So the Linigers devised the RE/MAX (Real Estate Maximums) Concept, which would offer agents equitable compensation and the benefits of company support programs in exchange for the agents sharing in-office overhead and paying management fees. Broker/Owners could attract the most experienced and productive agents. 

In "50 Companies That Changed the World," Howard Rothman ranks RE/MAX No. 45 on the list. The top 10 companies are Microsoft, AT&T, Ford, Apple, McDonald's, America Online, Federal Express, CBS, Philip Morris and Wal-Mart. Other companies include General Motors, Nike, Sony, The Walt Disney Company, Coca-Cola, Toyota and Proctor & Gamble.

RE/MAX is the only real estate organization on the list.

What this has meant to home buyers and home sellers, and how that has turned loose the experienced, knowledgeable agents has been nothing short of amazing.  Read on...next