RE/MAX sees Q3 profit rise despite revenue dip, talks AI and franchise programs

RE/MAX Holdings reported a decline in third-quarter 2025 revenue compared with the same period a year earlier, but also saw a net income uptick.

The parent company of RE/MAX and Motto Mortgage posted total revenue of $73.3 million, down 6.7% from the third quarter of 2024.

Excluding marketing funds, revenue fell 5.6% to $55.1 million, reflecting a 5.4% decline in organic revenue and a 0.2% negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations, the company said.

Recurring revenue streams — mainly franchise fees and annual dues — dropped 9.6% year over year, making up 63.6% of revenue excluding marketing funds.

Despite the revenue dip, net income rose to $4.0 million, up from $1.0 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA fell 5.6% to $25.8 million, representing a 35.2% margin.

Total operating expenses for the third quarter of 2025 were $54.9 million — down $8.3 million, or 13.2% — from $63.3 million in the same period last year.

Leaders said the decline was mainly driven by lower selling, operating and administrative costs, reduced settlement and impairment charges, decreased marketing fund expenses and lower depreciation and amortization.

Marketing and revenue opportunities

CEO Erik Carlson said new digital marketing initiatives are designed to help RE/MAX agents win more business efficiently while improving profitability for brokerages.

“Over the past four to six quarters, we’ve really been talking about bringing more value to the network and helping (agents) win more business in less time and bring some profitability back to brokerages, help agents make a little bit more money,” he said.

RE/MAX’s Marketing as a Service platform has gained strong traction since its rollout, Carlson added.

“That’s one of the platforms that we talked about as being a seven-digit revenue opportunity that certainly is continuing to grow,” he said. “We’re seeing a great response, engagement, usage, and I think the most important thing is it’s actually working.

“When you think about the marketing of a listing or an open house, or just marketing in general, it’s good to see that engagement and that return.”

Technology investments drive engagement

Carlson said the company’s technology strategy is expanding internationally — supported by new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tools and advertising partnerships.

“What we’ve done is create a platform through process technology and AI to help lower the cost for agents and be more effective in the marketplace,” he said. “We think that’s a big opportunity, not only in the U.S. and Canada, where it’s deployed today, but also internationally.”

He added that RE/MAX is strengthening its digital infrastructure through the RE/MAX Media Network.

“Obviously, part of marketing of the services is helping to drive traffic to the website,” Carlson said. “I will tell you that we’re building the plumbing. We’ve got good infrastructure in place.”

Carlson said advertisers have responded positively as the company prepares to launch new digital experiences.

“I think closer to the end of the year, you’ll see a new approach for us on .com and .ca,” he said. “But advertisers are liking what they’re seeing. We’re seeing good engagement from consumers when they have an ad on a site. That helps our brand and helps their experience.”

Agent count, network growth

Total RE/MAX agent count rose 1.4% from a year earlier to 147,547 — while the combined U.S. and Canada total fell 5.1% to 74,198 agents.

“Our total RE/MAX agent count reached another all-time high, fueled by steady global growth and our best third quarter U.S. agent count performance in three years based on feedback from the membership,” Carlson said. “We believe our mix of new ideas and products, along with our reinvigorated recent network events are enhancing our value proposition and generating great energy.”

Motto Mortgage ended the quarter with 210 offices, down 10.3% from the prior year.

“We’re thrilled to have Vic Lombardo on board as our new president of mortgage services,” said Carlson. “In his role, Vic will oversee the growth of our mortgage business, including Motto Mortgage and future evolutions designed to grow our mortgage offerings

“In Vic’s first two months, he’s dug into the operations — surfacing a number of innovative ideas to drive growth and add additional revenue streams and increase the operational efficiency.”

New franchise models

RE/MAX has introduced new economic models — Aspire, Ascend and Appreciate — to give franchisees more choice in how they structure their business.

Carlson said the flexibility is resonating with both brokers and agents.

“The models and just the idea that there’s choice is resonating with the network,” he said. “Obviously, brokerages and agents — as independent operators — have to make the best decision for themselves.”

He said Aspire, which targets newer agents, has produced positive results without disrupting traditional recruiting.

“Aspire has not taken away from any of the existing recruitment that we were doing organically for highly professional, productive, more tenured agents,” said Carlson. “So, Aspire generally has been seen as kind of incremental.”

“The other great thing that we’re seeing is Aspire is definitely coming with higher retention rates than what we previously saw. We’ve coupled education, a formalized program and learning technology, to help become a productive professional agent and take some burden off the broker — and I think that’s really helping with that retention rate for agents.”