Corporate Information

Based in Denver, Colo., REMAX International oversees a network of 88,798 agents and 6,240 offices in 84 countries.  The REMAX network is made up of more than 70 regions, varying in size from a metropolitan area to an entire country.

REMAX values community involvement at all levels of the organization, from individual Associates to corporate headquarters. Children's Miracle Network and Susan G. Komen for the Cure are two prime beneficiaries.

Dave and Gail Liniger founded REMAX in Denver, Colo., in 1973, prompted by their dissatisfaction with the way real estate business was conducted at the time.

Regardless of an operation's size, most real estate offices used the commission-split system, requiring sales professionals to forfeit half of their commissions to their brokers in exchange for an office environment and company services. The top producers contributed the most to the operation's overhead, thus supporting the amateur, part-time and low-producing agents. Most salespeople left the business within two years, making residential real estate a high-turnover industry comprising in large part inexperienced and unprofessional staffs.

The Linigers wanted to change all that.

They believed that to attract and retain the best agents in the business, brokers must offer them maximum compensation, advanced support services and the freedom they need to succeed. Agents would share office overhead and pay management fees, and in return would receive a wide variety of traditional real estate franchise services and high commissions.

The strategy worked.

REMAX has grown every single month for more than 30 years. Very few companies with a worldwide presence can make such a claim.

The most significant growth for REMAX in recent years has come outside the United States, with expansion into Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand and South America. REMAX takes proven techniques and adapts them to local markets, thereby developing a series of tools that real estate professionals find invaluable.

Some of the innovative services created by REMAX International to help its members become ever more professional and successful include commercial investment, an international referral network, advanced training courses, state-of-the-art technological tools, Internet and extranet Web sites, and national television advertising campaigns. It was the first - and remains the only - real estate network to invent and maintain a satellite television network (REMAX Satellite Network) dedicated to real estate professionals.

In an industry rife with mergers and acquisitions, REMAX is the only major real estate network still owned and directed by its original founders.

Recognized by the homebuying and selling public for its red, white and blue hot air balloon logo, REMAX has been the No. 1 residential real estate network in Canada since 1987 and is a leading industry force in the United States and many other regions.

Admittedly, when RE/MAX first began its relationship with hot-air ballooning in 1978, the motivation was pretty straightforward: as a fledgling real estate network we needed a marketing image that would get noticed.  

Just five years old at the time, RE/MAX already held more market share in Denver, the network's birthplace, than any competitor. Word of mouth was spreading fast about the network of highly experienced real estate agents who were proving to be more experienced, productive and knowledgeable than anyone else on the scene.

But market studies showed that among consumers in general, name recognition of RE/MAX ranked well below many lesser competitors.

Meanwhile, in New Mexico, a few RE/MAX agents and their regional leaders dreamed up the idea of entering a red-over-white-over blue RE/MAX Balloon in the 1978 Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. The RE/MAX ground crew wore jackets with patches that read, "Above the Crowd"®, a phrase devised by an Affiliate. And as often is the case with hot-air balloons, the RE/MAX Balloon really grabbed some attention. Plus, the imagery meshed perfectly with the RE/MAX network's emphasis on innovation, freedom and leadership.

RE/MAX International executives in Denver enthusiastically adopted the balloon image as the corporate logo. Within a year, Colorado had its own RE/MAX Balloon, and featured it prominently in a local television campaign. Within four months, RE/MAX held top name recognition in the Denver market.