Who determines the specific use and allocation of monies in the Remax Marketing Fund?
Remax Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
ees. Marketing Fund fees differ depending on the state—or area within the state—that a franchisee is located. Moreover, in some instances, and usually for a limited period of time, RE/MAX Regional may vary, waive, reduce or defer Marketing Fund fees. As a result, not all franchisees contribute to the Marketing Fund on the same basis as other franchisees.
RE/MAX Regional collects monies paid to the Marketing Fund for Marketing Fund fees and Hot Air Balloon Fund fees; REMAX, LLC controls and administers monies allocated to the Marketing Fund. Although the specific use and allocation of monies in the Marketing Fund shall be determined by REMAX, LLC in its sole discretion and may change from time to time (Franchise Agreement—Subsections 6.D., 6.E., and 9.C.), all monies in the Marketing Fund, including any interest, dividends, capital gains or other income, will be used for the preparation and placement of national, international, pan-regional, regional or local advertising, and for marketing materials, promotions, and programs, public relations activities, consumer surveys, technology related services including development and maintenance and administrative costs (as discussed below). Examples of possible uses include: national, regional and local television, video, radio, billboard and other out of home media advertising, print, digital, social, balloon and other media campaigns, as well as technology (which may include, without limitation, costs related to the development, operation, and maintenance of (a) remax.com and/or RE/MAX office and Sales Associate websites, (b) lead and customer relationship management solutions (c) mobile applications, and (d) a marketing portal). REMAX, LLC reserves the right to make certain assets owned by REMAX, LLC, including REMAX, LLC's websites, domain names, and trademarks, available to affiliates of REMAX, LLC for purposes related to their advertising and marketing efforts, including, for example, advertising on websites owned by REMAX, LLC. In addition, the Marketing Fund may pay for special high-profile opportunities and may contribute together with some or all of the marketing and advertising funds of Independent Regions to fund national and pan-regional creative development and media purchases.
REMAX, LLC primarily develops the strategy and implementation for brand campaigns with oversight and input from REMAX, LLC senior management. The source of REMAX, LLC's marketing materials is REMAX, LLC's in-house marketing department and regional and national advertising agencies.
The Marketing Fund is a subsidiary of REMAX, LLC, which is audited annually, but the Marketing Fund is not audited separately. The financial statements are not distributed to franchisees; however, upon written request, REMAX, LLC may make certain financial information available for your review. It is possible that not all of the funds that are contributed to the Marketing Fund will be spent that year. Excess funds that have not been spent by the end of any given fiscal year will be carried over to the next year until these excess funds are spent for the marketing, promotional, and technology purposes (but excluding administrative costs) described above. All Marketing Fund and Hot Air Balloon fund contributions become the non-refundable property of the Marketing Fund. All monies collected and disbursed by the Marketing Fund, including any interest, dividends, capital gains or other income earned on these monies, will be accounted for separately from REMAX, LLC's other funds. A portion of your annual contributions to the Marketing Fund and Hot Air Balloon Fund will be used to pay administrative expenses reasonably related to the direction and implementation of the Funds' purposes described above. As part of administrative expenses, the Fund pays REMAX, LLC amounts equivalent to salaries, travel, rent and other expenses we incur in administering the Fund.
Franchisees are not required to participate in local or regional advertising cooperatives.
During the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024 a total of $57,117,298 was disbursed by the Marketing Fund. 8.8% was spent on production, 58% was spent on media placement, 26.4% was spent on technology related services including development and maintenance (described above), and 6.8% was spent on administrative expenses.
Source: Item 11 — Franchisor's Assistance, Advertising, Computer Systems, and Training (FDD pages 59–71)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Remax's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, REMAX, LLC has the authority to determine the use and allocation of the monies within the Marketing Fund. While REMAX, LLC has the discretion to change how the funds are used, the FDD specifies that the monies will be used for advertising, marketing materials, promotions, public relations, consumer surveys, technology-related services, and administrative costs. These activities can include national, regional, and local advertising across various media such as television, radio, print, digital, and social media.
REMAX, LLC primarily develops the strategy and implementation for brand campaigns with oversight and input from REMAX, LLC senior management. The marketing materials come from REMAX, LLC's in-house marketing department and regional and national advertising agencies. The Marketing Fund is a subsidiary of REMAX, LLC and is audited annually, though not separately. While financial statements are not distributed to franchisees, REMAX, LLC may make certain financial information available for review upon written request.
For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, the Marketing Fund disbursed a total of $57,117,298. Of this amount, 8.8% was allocated to production, 58% to media placement, 26.4% to technology-related services, and 6.8% to administrative expenses. Excess funds not spent in a given fiscal year are carried over to the next year for marketing, promotional, and technology purposes, excluding administrative costs. All contributions to the Marketing Fund and Hot Air Balloon Fund become the non-refundable property of the Marketing Fund, and all monies collected and disbursed are accounted for separately from REMAX, LLC's other funds.