Does Counselor Realty reserve the right to receive fees for services provided to others?
Counselor_Realty Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
mounts from you or enforcing this agreement.
6. COUNSELOR SERVICES.
- 6.1 Training. At your request, Counselor will provide you and up to two of your key personnel initial training at a "Counselor" office or other location designated by Counselor, at any mutually convenient time. At your request, Counselor will provide supplemental initial and/or ongoing training for you and/or your key personnel at a "Counselor" office or other location designated by Counselor, at any mutually convenient time. You must pay Counselor a fee for training (including initial training) in the amount of $175 per trainer per hour. In addition, you must pay all travel, living and incidental expenses you and your employees, and our trainers, incur in connection with training. A copy of our Franchise Policy Guidelines will be available at our corporate office in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. We may change the Franchise Policy Guidelines periodically.
- 6.2 Advisory Services. We will advise you about proper display of the Marks, procuring fixtures and initial inventories, Counselor's business procedures, and other general guidance and advice regarding the franchised business. We may request that you attend certain meetings.
- 6.3 Website. We will create a separate webpage or subdomain for your Office and any Extension 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. We will create a separate webpage or subdomain on Counselor Realty, Inc.'s website for those licensed agents you request in writing. All webpages and subdomains we create for the licensed agents operating through your Office
(including any Additional Office or Extension Office) will include an IDX home search option for each market that the agent directly serves with listing reciprocity among Counselor Realty, Inc. and our franchisees (local MLS fees are the agent's responsibility). You will be required to pay us a Website Set Up Fee for any such webpages or subdomains, as more particularly described in Section 5.5. You will also be required to pay us a Website Fee associated with the webpages and subdomains we create for your Office, any Additional Offices or Extension Offices, and for the licensed agents operating through such offices, in such amounts, and at such times, as we shall determine from time to time in our sole discretion and as more particularly described in Section 5.5.
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD page 32)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Counselor Realty's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, Counselor Realty does reserve the right to receive fees for services provided to franchisees and their agents. Specifically, franchisees must pay a fee of $175 per trainer per hour for training services provided by Counselor Realty. Additionally, franchisees are responsible for covering all travel, living, and incidental expenses incurred by themselves, their employees, and Counselor Realty's trainers in connection with the training.
Counselor Realty also charges a Website Set Up Fee, which covers the costs they incur to set up a webpage for the franchisee's office on Counselor Realty's website. Franchisees must also pay a monthly Website Fee. This fee is $75 for each office location, including additional and extension offices, plus $25 for each licensed agent who chooses to have an optional agent website provided by Counselor Realty. For example, if a franchisee has 10 agents with optional websites, the Website Fee would be $325 ($75 plus $25 multiplied by 10).
Furthermore, if a franchisee's office is located within the 11-county metropolitan area of the Twin Cities, they must pay an Advertising Fee of $60 per agent per month. If the office is outside this area, they must join the Regional Advertising Group and pay $25 per agent per month to the Regional Advertising Fund. Counselor Realty retains the right to increase the Website Fee and Advertising Fee during the term of the agreement at its sole discretion. These fees compensate Counselor Realty for providing essential services and support to its franchisees and their agents.