REMAX Holdings’ first earnings report since agreeing to be acquired by The Real Brokerage showed continued pressure in the franchisor’s core North American business, even as its global agent count continued to grow. The results offer a closer look at the business Real is preparing to absorb — one of the best-known brands in residential real estate, with a global franchise network and nearly 150,000 agents, but one that is still facing pressure in the U.S. and Canada.
In SEC filings released Friday, the Denver-based franchisor reported $70.2 million in first-quarter revenue, down 5.7 percent from a year earlier, or 4 percent to $53.4 million after excluding fees collected for marketing programs. Adjusted EBITDA dropped 19.3 percent to $15.6 million. REMAX also reported a net loss attributable to the company of $9.7 million, compared with a $2 million loss during the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted earnings per share fell to $0.16, down from $0.24 a year earlier.
The company said it will not host a quarterly earnings call and does not expect to do so in future quarters while its merger with Real is pending. REMAX also said it does not intend to provide quarterly or annual guidance during that period, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.
REMAX’s total agent count rose 2.1 percent year over year to 149,192 agents. But that growth was driven by markets outside the U.S. and Canada, where agent count rose 6.7 percent to 75,900 agents. In the U.S., REMAX agent count fell 4.8 percent to 47,443. Across the U.S. and Canada combined, agent count fell 2.3 percent to 73,292. The company’s U.S. office count also fell 4.7 percent year over year, from 3,080 to 2,935.
REMAX attributed the revenue decline partly to changes in its standard fee models, including its Aspire and Ascend programs, as well as lower U.S. agent count. Recurring revenue streams, including continuing franchise fees and annual dues, fell 10.2 percent from a year earlier. Continuing franchise fees alone fell from $29.4 million to $25.8 million.
Motto Mortgage footprint keeps shrinking
The pressure extended to REMAX’s mortgage-franchise business, even as Real executives have pointed to mortgage as a potential source of future upside from the combined company’s larger transaction base.
REMAX’s Motto Mortgage open offices fell 29.9 percent year over year, from 224 to 157. The company said it continued terminating Motto franchisees that were receiving significant financial relief or otherwise not performing operationally, including 13 Motto franchisees in the first quarter. The number of offices receiving short-term financial relief fell from 58 a year earlier to 22.
On Real’s own earnings call this week, CEO Tamir Poleg told investors that the combined Real and REMAX networks closed more than 700,000 U.S. transaction sides last year, creating potential upside for the company’s mortgage, title and fintech businesses. Poleg estimated that a 1 percent mortgage attachment rate across that base would generate roughly $25 million in high-margin revenue for the combined company after closing.
Poleg also pointed to the productivity of REMAX agents, saying the average REMAX agent closes more than 10 transactions a year, roughly double both the industry average and the average for Real’s own agents.
Real investors raise debt question
The results also put renewed attention on how Real plans to handle REMAX’s debt, which has emerged as one of the key financial questions surrounding the merger. REMAX ended the quarter with $436 million in outstanding debt, net of unamortized debt discount and issuance costs, compared with $436.8 million at the end of 2025. Real, by contrast, ended its own first quarter with $62.9 million in unrestricted cash and short-term investments and no debt.
During Real’s earnings call Thursday, CFO Ravi Jani addressed the highest-voted question submitted through Real’s retail investor Q&A portal about whether the company was concerned about taking on REMAX’s debt and how quickly it expected to pay it down.
Jani said Real is approaching leverage “very conservatively,” adding that both businesses are asset-light and cash-generative. He said REMAX’s recurring franchise revenue creates visibility into future free cash flow, and said the combined company’s first capital allocation priority after closing will be deleveraging.
Real expects to reach 2x net debt to adjusted EBITDA by the end of the second full fiscal year following close, Jani said. He also said the combined company’s leverage would be lower than REMAX’s standalone leverage on a net-leverage basis.
Operating under deal-period constraints
When Real and REMAX announced their merger agreement on April 26, leaders signaled that the deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. If completed, newly merged Real REMAX Group would rank among real estate’s top three companies by scale, behind Compass International Holdings and Keller Williams.
Real executives have said their three biggest priorities before closing are retaining agents and franchisees, ensuring operational stability on Day One and delivering $30 million in expected run-rate savings from duplicative overhead and corporate costs.
REMAX’s latest quarterly filing also lays out risks tied to the deal, including the possibility that the merger or its announcement could hurt the company’s ability to retain agents, franchisees and personnel. The filing also warns that the deal could disrupt management’s attention, lead to unexpected costs or litigation, or restrict REMAX’s ability to pursue certain business opportunities or strategic transactions while the merger is pending.
The company had $62.5 million remaining under an existing $100 million stock repurchase authorization at the end of the quarter, though REMAX did not repurchase shares during the first quarter and is restricted from doing so without Real’s approval while the deal is pending.