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Firm Affiliation of REALTORS®
- 55% of REALTORS® are affiliated with an independent, non-franchised company.
- While brokers and broker associates (58%) are most often affiliated with an independent, non-franchised company, sales agents are split more evenly with 52% belonging to an independent company, 41% belonging to a franchised company, and 8% reported as “other.”
- Less REALTORS® reported an affiliation with a franchised company (40%) than with an independent company (53%).
Source: National Association of REALTORS® 2025 Member Profile
Franchises: The Basics
Build Your Business with Real Estate Franchises (Small Business Trends, Dec. 7, 2024)
“A real estate franchise is a business that provides services related to the buying, selling, or renting of real estate. These businesses can be involved in a variety of activities, such as property management, home inspection, and mortgage financing.”
2025 Residential Franchise Report (National Association of REALTORS®, Oct. 1, 2025)
“NAR REALTOR® News’ biennial Residential Real Estate Franchise Report can help prospective franchisees and real estate professionals make informed decisions in the franchise landscape. The table of this year’s participating companies (pages 5 and 7) enables you to compare key data, such as the initial cost of becoming a franchisee, ongoing cost structure and typical agreement length. The data is provided by the companies and not independently verified. Every franchisor also provides this information and more in the Franchise Disclosure Documents required by the Federal Trade Commission. To accompany this year’s report, we spoke to several of the company executives to gain a clearer picture of the resources they provide and advantages of their model.”
Join a Franchise Without Losing Your Independence (NAR REALTOR® News, Jun. 30, 2023)
Brokers and salespeople who consider leaving the world of independent brokerages for the security and brand recognition of a franchise face a common fear: loss of flexibility in business decision-making. Certainly, running a national or global brand while allowing franchisees autonomy can be a tricky balance. But smart franchises are proactively addressing that concern in their outreach.” Three strategies, “Niches Foster Individuality; A Need for Targeted Personalization; and Disruption from Teams,” are discussed.
Enterprise 20 – Sales Volume (T360 Real Estate Almanac, 2025)
A list of the US’s 20 largest real estate enterprises by full-year 2025 sales volume. “The ranking considers the production of both a company’s owned and franchised offices. In some cases, production includes a nominal amount of commercial activity, which does not appreciably affect volumes or any rankings.”
A Consumer’s Guide to Buying a Franchise (Federal Trade Commission, Sep. 2020)
“The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, has prepared this Guide to help you decide if a franchise is right for you. It suggests ways to shop for a franchise opportunity and highlights key questions you need to ask before you invest. The Guide also explains how to use the disclosure document that franchisors must give you — under the FTC’s Franchise Rule — so you can investigate and evaluate a franchise opportunity.”
Independents: The Basics
Big Dreams, Small Brokerages: Five Traits of Independent Firms Real Estate Agents Should Consider (Forbes, Feb. 17, 2021)
“At some point, every agent must make a tough decision: to work for an independent firm or a larger, franchised brokerage. According to the National Association of Realtors, as of 2020, the number of agents working for independent versus franchised brokerages was nearly evenly split. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all brokerages work for agents in the same way.”
The ABCs of Opening Your Own Brokerage (NAR REALTOR® News, Jun. 26, 2019)
“Ramonica Caldwell, broker-owner of Ramonica Caldwell Real Estate Group LLC in Houston, opened her brokerage mainly for the freedom. She, too, decided to go independent to control her own brand and business identity. Today, she operates with two agents. “I always knew I wanted to have my own company no matter what job I was going to do. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I’m normally a go-getter in everything I do,” she says. In May 2017, she opened her doors after working the previous five years as an agent with different types of real estate brokerages.”
Franchise or Independent: How to Choose?
Why the “Teamerage” is the Fastest-Growing Model in Real Estate Brokerage (HousingWire, Jul. 24, 2023)
“Some in the industry, like RealTrends Consulting co-founder Steve Murray, believe a team can only be a teamerage if it is a standalone real estate brokerage, either independent or part of a national franchise network, that operates like a real estate team. “I don’t really recognize teamerages,” Murray said. “If a team leaves a big brokerage to become a standalone brokerage, then they are an independent brokerage. They may still operate their internal business like a team, but that is just the operation model they use.” Others, however, believe teamerages can exist within franchises or national brokerages such as eXp Realty or Side…Despite their different viewpoints, what most can agree on is that teamerages supply their agents with more training, mentoring and services, such as transaction coordination, listing management, compliance, marketing, a CRM, and other technology tools than most traditional brokerages. Most teamerages also supply their agents with leads.”
RE/MAX Broker Shares His Journey from Independent to Franchise Model (RIS Media, Oct. 15, 2021)
John Noughton, a Broker/Owner in New Hampshire, was an independent real estate agent looking to grow his business. He realized that, for him, the best way to put his agents first and provide them with the tools, technology, and marketing needed to achieve the growth he had in mind was to become part of a larger franchise. Brand recognition is huge, but making sure the culture of that brand fits your agents is sometimes even more important.
Why Independent Brokerages May Have the Advantage in Real Estate’s Next Chapter (HousingWire, Mar. 5, 2026)
“This insight may be the industry’s most enduring and constant. Even as business models evolve and margins tighten, the firms that win will likely be those that keep their focus on the human side of the business — agents, clients and the communities they serve.”
Even in a Era of Big Mergers, Real Estate is Still a Local Business (NAR REALTOR® News, Dec. 18, 2025)
“Nationally, no merger in recent years has come close to creating anything resembling dominance. Even when you consider the combined presence of the largest firms, their share of residential brokerage activity tends to fall in the 15%–20% range nationally. That’s a meaningful slice, but still far from the 70%–80% threshold economists associate with market control. Real estate remains one of the most decentralized industries in the country, with influence spread across thousands of companies and millions of individual client relationships. No single company, or even a combined entity, can dictate pricing, restrict access to listings or reshape how data moves across the market. Buyers and sellers still have abundant options, and those options look different in every region of the country.”
eBooks & Other Resources
Books, Videos, Research Reports & More
As a member benefit, the following resources and more are available for loan through the NAR Library. Items will be mailed directly to you or made available for pickup at the REALTOR® Building in Chicago.
Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements (eBook)
Creating An Independent Income In Real Estate! (eBook)
Free Agent Nation (eBook)
Real Estate Confronts the Future (Thompson South-Western in association with RealSure, Inc., 2005) HD 1375 SWCR
Business Lessons for Entrepreneurs: 35 Things I Learned Before the Age of Thirty (Thompson South-Western in association with RealSure, Inc., 2003) HD 2346 C89
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