What must a Remax franchisee ensure regarding advertising and the use of their office name in relation to the geographic area served?
Remax Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Consistent with the foregoing, you agree to ensure that neither you nor your Office nor any of your Sales Associates engage in any advertising, or permit use of your Office name in directories or in any other manner, that offers, or infers the availability by or through your Office of, real estate services in a geographic area or market that is not served personally and directly by you or one of your Sales Associates or where your Office lacks the local market knowledge and familiarity necessary to provide informed, competent, high quality real estate services or that is too distant from your Office for you or any Sales Associate affiliated with your Office to personally and directly serve and satisfy the real estate service needs of buyers, sellers or renters.
Source: Item 22 — Contracts (FDD pages 108–334)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Remax's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, a franchisee must ensure that their advertising and use of the office name do not misrepresent the geographic area they serve. Specifically, Remax requires that franchisees avoid implying they can serve distant markets where they or their sales associates cannot personally and directly provide quality services. This prevents franchisees from advertising as a statewide, multi-state, national, or international provider if they lack the capacity to deliver services on that scale.
Remax mandates that franchisees must not engage in advertising that offers or suggests real estate services in areas not directly served by them or their sales associates. This includes areas where the office lacks the necessary local market knowledge to provide informed and competent services, or areas too distant for them to personally meet the needs of clients. The intention is to maintain high standards of service and professionalism, ensuring that customers receive competent and informed real estate services within the areas the franchisee actively serves.
This policy aims to protect the goodwill associated with the Remax brand by ensuring that franchisees focus on markets where they can provide genuine expertise and service. It also prevents misleading advertising that could harm consumers or damage the reputation of the Remax network. However, this does not limit the franchisee's ability to refer clients to other Remax affiliates, regardless of location, and to receive referral fees for such referrals.