On 30 January, RE/MAX offices around the globe celebrate Founders Day: an annual celebration of the official inauguration of the RE/MAX brand on January 30, 1973. The day serves to acknowledge the efforts of the brand’s founding members who, forty-eight years ago, disrupted the real estate market by introducing the concept of 100% commission earners into the real estate environment.
This bold move proved an effective way to ensure the motivation and success of top producers in the industry. Soon, the brand was able to transform into a top-producing global force with which to be reckoned. “From the beginning, my dream was to grow the best and the largest real estate network in the world, an organisation where everybody wins – our customers, our agents, our owners, our employees, everybody. It took more than 30 years, but that dream has become a reality,” explains Dave Liniger, RE/MAX LLC Co-Founder & Chairman.
From these humble beginnings, the brand has grown into the largest real estate franchise in the world. For the past twelve consecutive years, RE/MAX LLC has ranked as the leading real estate franchise in Franchise Times Top 200 list, based on global sales. As things stand today, nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX.
Locally, RE/MAX began operating in the South African market in 1995. “Our founding members, Peter and Val Gilmour, opened the first RE/MAX office in Cape Town and slowly but surely expanded the brand into other regions across Southern Africa. Today, thanks to their groundwork, we have grown to over 2,600 agents operating out of 161 offices and licensed in five countries in the Southern Africa region. In terms of the size of our competitors, we are the largest real estate company and we complete more sales than any other real estate brand operating in our region,” explains current Regional Director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, Adrian Goslett.
During and after the lockdown, the brand also saw the number of sales associates increase by nearly 200 new agents. The company also concluded record-breaking reported sales totals for the months following the hard lockdown.
In Goslett’s opinion, the key factor that drives this ongoing success of the RE/MAX brand is the fact that the brand is truly entrepreneurial focused, providing support as well as freedom. “Each of our offices are independently owned and operated, which allows them the freedom to be in business for themselves, but with the ongoing support of an established global brand. Beyond this, real estate professionals have the option of joining as independent contractors and may form their own independent teams that operate under the brand of a RE/MAX office of their choosing. Allowing individuals the freedom of being in control of their own earning potential is what drives our agents to sell more homes than anyone else in the business,” says Goslett.
As we head into what many predict to be yet another challenging year, Goslett remains confident in the RE/MAX business model and thanks the brand’s founding members for introducing this concept and laying the groundwork for future success.
