Are Advertising Fees uniformly imposed among all Counselor Realty offices?
Counselor_Realty Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
. Advertising Fees are nonrefundable and are uniformly imposed among franchisee-owned "Counselor" offices. "Counselor" offices owned and operated by Counselor contribute toward the general costs of marketing activities conducted by Counselor under a different formula, and are not required to pay the specific Advertising Fees described above.
- D. You must pay us a monthly Website Fee in an amount equal to $75 for each Office location (including each Additional Office and Extension Office), plus $25 for each licensed agent choosing to have an optional agent website provided by Counselor. For purposes of clarity, if you have 10 agents who choose to have the optional agent website, your Website Fee would be $325 ($75 plus $25 multiplied by 10). The amount of the Website Fee may be increased during the term of this Agreement by Counselor from time to time in its sole discretion. At the beginning of each month, we will send you an invoice for the amount of the Website Fee you owe us for the current month, and you must pay us the amount of such Continuing Agent Fee on or before the 20th day of such month. The monthly Website Fee will apply to any agents operating out of any Additional Office locations or Extension Office locations that have elected to have an optional agent website.
- E. You must pay us an initial Website Set Up Fee, in an amount equal to the costs incurred by us in setting up a webpage for your Office on Counselor Realty, Inc.'s website. If we have consented to any Additional Office locations, you may request to have us set up a separate webpage or subdomain for any such Additional Office on Counselor Realty, Inc.'s website and, if elected, you must pay us a Website Set Up Fee for such webpage, in an amount equal to the costs incurred by us in setting up any such webpage.
Source: Item 6 — OTHER FEES (FDD pages 9–13)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Counselor Realty's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, advertising fees are generally uniformly imposed among franchisee-owned Counselor Realty offices. However, this uniformity has some exceptions. Specifically, the advertising fee structure depends on the office location.
For offices located within the 11-county metropolitan area of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, the advertising fee is $60 per agent per month. For offices located outside this area, once a Regional Advertising Group is established, the advertising fee is $25 per agent per month. The amount of Advertising Fees for the Regional Advertising Group may be increased during the term of the franchise by a majority vote of the "Regional Advertising Committee" that manages your Regional Advertising Group.
It is important to note that Counselor Realty offices owned and operated by the franchisor itself do not pay the same advertising fees as franchisee-owned offices. Instead, these company-owned offices contribute toward the general costs of marketing activities under a different formula. This difference in fee structure between franchisee-owned and company-owned offices is a notable exception to the uniform imposition of advertising fees.