What the Real and Remax Merger Means for Agents and Clients

John Wilkinson (00:01)
Hey everybody, welcome back to Getting Real Estate. I'm John Wilkinson with my co-host Kenda Ruck. Kenda good morning.

Kenda Ruck (00:08)
Good morning, how are you today?

John Wilkinson (00:10)
Super, I'm doing great. I'm very excited to be here this morning. It's little different this podcast. We had some you know big news that that finally closed this Monday. Real, our brokerage acquired Remax, you know, the globally recognized REAL estate brand around around the world, right? So it's very exciting news. And I think today we're gonna talk a little bit about what happened, what transpired, what does this transaction mean?

You know, for REAL and for Remax. also, what what does it mean for our clients? That's the big thing, right? There's a lot of reasons why this transaction happened, and a lot of it is for clients, for people who are buying or selling their homes. And then also, why are agents taking a second look today at REAL and REMAX as a potential option? I know we've both experienced this personally, and I think it's gonna be a great conversation about you know what transpired and just kind of our take on.

on our experience on it.

Kenda Ruck (01:12)
Yeah, I you're absolutely right, John. You are not brand new to an acquisition. And so you back in Austin, when you were an agent there, you lived through something very similar. Can you

Talk a little bit about that acquisition and what that was like for you.

John Wilkinson (01:28)
Yeah, no, absolutely. So we I was with Realty Austin, which is a fantastic boutique brokerage in Austin, very culture rich, super great agents, really some of the top performing agents in the Austin area, also in San Antonio. Well, I joined, and about two or three months later, Compass said that or announced they were acquiring Realty Austin. And we were all like, What's gonna happen? What does this mean for us? And it happened.

From the from the announcement to actual close, it happened pretty quickly. I would say like three or four months. I

Kenda Ruck (02:01)
Wow.

John Wilkinson (02:01)
feel like this REAL announcement happened. I they announced April, end of April, and now here we are in August seems you same about three or four months. Seems like a quick transaction to to bring these two big companies together. you know, I think that it's right now it's it's days normal. Everything you know, business is business is normal, just kind of go through your day. That's what you know Tamir said.

CEO of Real. And I think that's what I experienced when Compass bought Realty Austin. The big change for us then was we were immediately provided access to the Compass platform, which from a technology standpoint, an agent workflow standpoint, you know, our daily tasks, it was night and day over what we had available at Realty Austin. Realty Austin, no, no shame to them at all. They built a great brokerage, but the Compass platform is just incredible.

Right. So yeah, that that was a big change for us, you know, really on day one.

Kenda Ruck (03:00)
Yeah, that is a huge change and it makes a big difference for sure for the agent, right? Like for the for the ri the REAL estate brokers, it makes a it makes a big change. It makes your job a lot easier. But how do you think that technology piece translates to the buyer or seller?

John Wilkinson (03:19)
That's a great question. I think what I recognized in moving from Realty Austin to Compass is the communication flow was a lot smoother and there was more transparency. So, as an example, my clients had access to the work that was being done, quote unquote, behind the scenes, you know, searches, communication about different listings, marketing.

And we were able to like do that all in one platform and have them have excess access to that. Whereas you know, at Realty Austin, it was more of a manual push to them. So there's more automation. There was a little bit of AI sneaking in when I was there. Now, this was you know three or four years ago. So you know, times obviously have changed. and you know, so I think that was a big thing for clients, it's just that technology piece and making

communication and knowing that we were working on their behalf all every day, pretty evident.

Kenda Ruck (04:17)
I think that is huge because I don't know, not everybody is like me, but I want to know like what's happening when I when I buy or sell a house. I wanna make sure that nobody's dropping any balls anywhere. So I think it's really good to have that transparency. When you moved to Denver, why didn't you stay with Compass? Why did you go with Remax?

John Wilkinson (04:39)
That's a great question. I there were several personal reasons. I had some connections at the Remax of Cherry Creek office, which I shout out to them. Like you and I were both at Remax of Cherry Creek, and that is

Kenda Ruck (04:51)
They're awesome.

John Wilkinson (04:52)
yeah, so awesome. the people really the agents there are some of the best agents I've ever gotten to know or work with. they are friendly, the culture is amazing. they're hard workers, they're smart. you know, and so that drew me.

to the brokerage. and and there was a there was you know some some side things that were supposed to to happen that that kind of made it make sense from a financial standpoint.

Kenda Ruck (05:18)
Mm-hmm.

John Wilkinson (05:20)
And it was tough leaving Compass because the technology was not the same at at Remax. And I think that's probably part of the reason this this whole transaction with REAL and REMAX happened is a marriage of technology expertise, brand recognition, you know, the list goes on.

But that was the reason why here, and I know that you and I talked about, you know, when it was discussed or announced that that REAL was gonna be purchasing Remax, we thought like, hey, what should we do for our business? You know, and

Kenda Ruck (05:53)
Mm-hmm.

John Wilkinson (05:54)
and what do you think, like what was the the biggest driving factor for that?

Kenda Ruck (05:58)
Yeah, I think that was a a really difficult decision. And we did do have a lot of conversations. we did a lot of research. but when the acquisition was announced, it kind of opened up for us like we're gonna have to go through change anyway. What is right for our business? And I think it highlights the main difference between REMAX and Real, and that that is that RE-MAX is a franchise model.

So you and I are both experienced agents, but we were new in Denver. And there are so many great agents in Denver. And it's it takes a little time.

To gain some traction and to start producing. And I think for us, we were spending

not insignificant dollars every month, but we weren't getting the business yet that is you know that we needed to offset those expenses. So that was one thing. And the other thing was for me personally that I didn't like was there are different, you know, platforms that we had to use every day, right? And

I was attracted to the model, you know, being an an online model and and having all of these AI resources and all of these streamlined, smooth, beautiful resources to make the agent's job easier and the the transaction more transparent to the client. And

For me, RE-MAX didn't like their their platforms didn't gel together. I felt like I was having to redo the same task in several different places. And I needed to be spending that time

Earning business and and marketing myself instead of trying to figure out different platforms. So for me, you know, when we started talking about it, that was a huge difference

You know, I think it if you're a top producer, it makes perfect sense. But we were new to the area and there are so many amazing agents in in that brokerage and you know it makes perfect sense for them. But for us, we had to had to make an a a little bit of a pivot there. And and also the technology piece was huge for me, you know, not having to go on several different platforms and just having a more transparent experience.

for the client and a a a more smooth process. I think that was what was really important to me. Do you agree?

John Wilkinson (08:27)
Yeah. I

do. Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head. It was about our business. I mean, if we could be Shelley Bridges, right, or any of those top producers over there every day, right? But new

Kenda Ruck (08:37)
Amazing. Yeah.

John Wilkinson (08:40)
to the market for our business. I learned so much from everybody at Remax of Cherry Creek. And I'm excited that we're now back together, you know, as as a as a company, as a as a family, and that you know, I know that the road like Compass in Austin, there there's gonna be some

merging of cultures and merging of systems and and opportunities and and that's really exciting for I know for you and for me. But yeah, I agree. I think you know anytime there's a transition, it's tough. You know, from from numbers, I think, you know, what happened is is, and I'm just kind of reading notes here because I it's all so new, but you know, combined, there's 180,000 plus agents now under the REAL REMAX group, which is amazing. 145,000.

Kenda Ruck (09:25)
In a hundred and twenty

countries. Yeah.

John Wilkinson (09:27)
120 countries, yeah, which REAL was

in Canada but was not more international than that. 145,000

Kenda Ruck (09:31)
Right.

John Wilkinson (09:33)
agents from Remax, 33,000 from Real. and you know, that's all that's amazing. You mentioned something about you know the franchise model. There are REMAX offices. Obviously, that's gonna take some time to figure out, you know, do REAL agents get access to those offices? If you're an agent out there or a client who likes to go visit your agent's office.

Real obviously is an online broker model similar to EXP. You know, Compass obviously has offices to go to, but now it's kind of a best of both worlds. And to your point about the technology, moving over to Real, and I know we talked about, you know, was it Compass or or what? Where we where were we gonna go for our for our for our team? And the technology is amazing. And I think this merge or marriage of

the experience, the brand recognition, the amazing top producing agents that are at Remax coming over to Real and using the systems that are that you know we have like Hey Leo, the AI tool that's client facing, it's amazing. I think it's just gonna be

Kenda Ruck (10:36)
my gosh. That's incredible.

John Wilkinson (10:39)
really, really bright future for for the two companies for sure.

Kenda Ruck (10:43)
I

agree. I agree. This the cloud based brokerage, it just it just

offers such a an opportunity for seamless service and I think that's probably the most exciting part for me. it's like they have the whole process in-house and that can make for so much

a smoother process for the client.

John Wilkinson (11:07)
I agree totally. Yeah, that's you know, if there's if if if you know for for the REAL REAL and REMAX, what does it mean? Like like I said, we said before, it's it's kind of business as usual. But, you know, people have said or asked, why would Remax want this? They've been in Denver for 70 years, right? Or you know

Kenda Ruck (11:27)
That's right.

John Wilkinson (11:27)
a long time the headquarters, and now it's gonna be moving to Miami in the next, you know, two to three years. But why, why now, why today? And I think you know, what we've seen and

It's it's public knowledge. Remax in the US has been losing agents to other brokerages. it's been growing in Canada and around the world. but but why in the US? And I think as things have shifted, Compass has obviously purchased a number of major brokerages around the country. Serhant you know, continues to grow across the country. And I know this probably means nothing to the layman listening, but these are major.

REAL estate companies that are doing amazing work for clients. and and a lot of it rests on the technology piece. And instead of having to start from from the ground up, Remax to build something, it made sense to find a a a strategic partner. and same for REAL that ha REAL who has a technology platform and continues to grow to invest in it. And amazing clients on their on their own right, right? And I think that's gonna be

you know, kind of why the Remaxes out there did this and why Real you know, started looking this. I think Tamir mentioned that it was five years ago when they started thinking about the acquisition. So it's not been a, you know, like it seems quick because the announcement was just in April, but you know, it's been something behind the scenes that's been kind of brewing for a while, which is which is amazing. What do you what do you think like at for your clients or for our clients, what have you seen different now that we've been at Real?

versus at Remax in terms of like the technology, communication, you know, and access to to different tools.

Kenda Ruck (13:09)
Yeah, I think for me the the main thing that I have seen is just the streamlined process. You know, we have reZEN which is our, filing cabinet, maybe you should say, but there's just such support. And I do have to say the REMAX office leadership is phenomenal. The Remax of Cherry Creek. We had phenomenal leadership there and they

They kept us motivated and the culture was great and we stayed motivated. I do feel like with with REAL,

there are multiple webinars that are live online and you can just if you have a a a a hole in your schedule and you have an hour, you can jump on and learn something really important that helps you be a better support for your clients, helps you understand what's happening in the world. So I I think that has been great for me. I'm kind of a nerd. And REAL has really offered that for me.

and then just the transparency and the smoothness of the process from start to finish. I just I have been blown away. And and now you mentioned Hey Leo. This is the new AI agent. What are what do they call it? The

John Wilkinson (14:19)
Sure, yeah,

it's our it's our AI tool, Now we are at late Leo two point Yeah, it's GenTic AI, yep. So it's an agent that kind

Kenda Ruck (14:22)
Agentics or something? Agenti Yeah, yeah.

John Wilkinson (14:27)
of works on your behalf, yep.

Kenda Ruck (14:28)
Yeah, yeah. So we have this office that we can get into and it has all of these different personal assistants and you choose what personal assistant you want for that particular task. So it's just making it so that we can be doing the things that we need to be doing to get our clients the best deal they can get, and we can really focus on those things and not be bogged down with a lot of

repetitive tasks that we maybe have had to do in the past. So I do see a lot of big companies are merging It's happening. and so, you know, we just have to kind of face this and see

see where where it's going. talk to us a little bit about the splits too, John. That's something that if you are an agent, you might be wondering like what do the splits look like? Is there a cap? What's happening over at Real? So let's talk a little bit about about financially how the agents are rewarded for their work.

John Wilkinson (15:28)
Yeah,

I think that's a great question. You know, right now there obviously are a lot of agents, like when when we were reevaluating, you know, where we were, what what our c compensation was going to look like, what our costs were gonna look like. I mean, at the end of the day, agents are entrepreneurs. They're business owners, they've got to operate, you know, with profit and loss in mind. You know, you can't just do this shotgun approach for marketing and spend all these dollars and not and not get anything in return. And if there's not, then you've got to make a make a change.

So I think a lot of people are reevaluating where to hang their license. And I'd say if you are an agent at a brokerage outside of REAL or REMAX and are looking for you know different options, it was pretty hard to turn past or go past REAL in their split. Right now, it's an 85-15 split right off the bat, which a lot of places are 80-20 or worse. Now,

Kenda Ruck (16:23)
Mm-hmm.

John Wilkinson (16:23)
if you're a top producing agent,

You may be getting 100%. And that's amazing. I can't wait to be at that point. But at REAL, yeah, I know we will one day, one day. At

Kenda Ruck (16:30)
Right, we'll get there. We will.

John Wilkinson (16:33)
REAL, it's 8515, but there's a $12,000 annual cap per agent. So, like basic that's almost one sale, and then you're at 100% for that year. There's no monthly desk fees, which which I obviously again, costs are important. You got to look at that. And so once you

Kenda Ruck (16:50)
Business decision?

John Wilkinson (16:51)
yeah, exactly. It's a business decision. Once you hit that cap, you're 100% of the commission.

For the rest of your anniversary year, and you just pay a flat per transaction fee, which I think it's like $300. I mean, it's it's not very much, it's insignificant.

Kenda Ruck (17:03)
It's not yeah, it's nothing.

John Wilkinson (17:05)
I mean, you have to have EO insurance here in Colorado. All agents have to have that. The company carries it for REAL carries it for a large per percentage of the business, but for individual agents, you also have to carry that. But again, it's not very expensive. So, I mean, when just looking at that alone, outside of all the other benefits that Real has from

The one wallet, which you know is amazing. You know, profit sharing, revenue sharing opportunities. They're also when you build your team, you know, you there's there's ancillary income from your downline when you're when you bring agents over to your team to work with you. So those are all great financial things, you know, and and talking about splits, I think another thing to consider is culture. yeah, I think one of the things we I you know, if one of the concerns we had, and you can talk to this is

You know, just from a culture standpoint and an education standpoint, you know, we had weekly sales meetings at Remax Cherry Creek was great because we learned so much and we were worried, like, hey, are we gonna get that same level of information, local information, Colorado legal information, in order to keep us, you know, on our toes when we're operating our business? How do you feel Real has performed from that standpoint?

Kenda Ruck (18:20)
Yeah, that was a huge concern because you know, I was a a REAL estate agent in in Cabo and the rules in Denver are or Colorado are very different than they were in Cabo. You were in Texas, so a lot of those a lot of those regulations kind of bled over and they're similar, but in Cabo it was very different. So I was really concerned about

Getting to meet people because I'm new here, work with professionals who could be, you know, really lead and have somebody to turn to if I had questions. And that was kind of important for both of us. that was where REMAX really excelled for us.

We had a great mentor named Sarah who was phenomenal. We love her. She's she was amazing and such a great help. and just the rest of the the rest of the team. had we had

Like monthly get-togethers and we did volunteering together. P. You know, it it the culture was great in Remax of Cherry Creek. I do feel like it's a little different with REAL.

just being fully transparent. It's it's a little different because I'm working on a cloud-based realm. However, they're doing everything they can to bring you together. I'm on a team right now of 30 people and they're from all over the country and we have two Zoom calls a week. So I feel like I'm getting to know people and then you and I are going to the REAL conference in October.

John Wilkinson (19:50)
Yeah. Yep.

Kenda Ruck (19:51)
So some of the people who we've seen online we're gonna get to connect with. So and that's in Vegas. So I'm really excited.

John Wilkinson (19:57)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (20:00)
Yes.

John Wilkinson (19:58)
I am too. Yeah. Rise 2026.

that's gonna be a lot of fun. I think you know, one of the reasons people love those conferences is obviously it's the hoorah and culture building and and and all of that, but from a business standpoint, I remember listening to an agent from Compass who would go to these conferences for the sole purpose of meeting people to build a referral network, right? Which

Is super important. I we just had a client that moved from Missouri that was re that that came from a referral over from someone that we knew. so referrals are important. And now with this transaction, it's no longer, you know, hey, come join this scrappy startup online brokerage, right? This is a a a brokerage now that has years of of of experience from from the Remax brand. and now 180,000

agents globally that can refer we can refer business back and forth. And so again, these benefits that that we've talked about, I think for for any agent what and you there's struggles. I mean, nothing is perfect. Yeah. And

Kenda Ruck (21:05)
Yeah, there's gonna be right. What do you think

some of those like bumps and speed bumps will be?

John Wilkinson (21:14)
I

think that if an agent is coming from maybe a smaller boutique brokerage, they have FaceTime with their managing broker, you know, employing broker, and those relationships are important, critical, especially for folks that may be relatively new to the industry, right? There's always these questions. Hey, this came up, that came up. You know, we have those questions. So not having that face-to-face

relationship is it can be challenging, but again, the support and access to our broker is very easy. You can do it through AI, you can do it through text, email. so there's there's definite workarounds. It's just, I think you have to be able, be willing to shift right in your desire on how you work and and not be kind of like this is how I do things I can't change. If you're that kind of agent, then it may not be the right choice for you.

but again, like Remax now part of the team. That you know, like if you are a top producing agent and you want that that you know brick and mortar, I get to go to an office and here's our a team that supports me, then Remax is an amazing choice for you because you get that plus the technology of REAL. I mean, what?

Kenda Ruck (22:29)
Right, right.

John Wilkinson (22:30)
Like it's the best of both worlds. It's like amazing. It's a no-brainer. Yeah, it's it's a no-brainer.

Kenda Ruck (22:32)
Right, it's a no brainer. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

John Wilkinson (22:36)
but yeah, I think I think that's kind of for me, top of mind, some of the struggles.

that somebody might have. I think obviously from a financial perspective, that far outweighs any of those like little like who moved my cheese kind of moments when like, you know, I'm not used to this, well change happens, you know. So you know. Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (22:51)
Right. Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it happens. That's the world that we live in. So so

so if I'm a home owner and I have a REMAX for sale sign in my front yard, what am I gonna see differently? Like what's gonna be how's that gonna impact me?

John Wilkinson (23:12)
Nothing.

I mean, I think it's it's really business as usual. And, you know, outside of perhaps being able to share that listing, you know, with the REAL you know, agents, brokers here in Colorado, it just expands the network. And that is at the end of the day, especially in today's market, more eyes on a listing is always better.

Kenda Ruck (23:39)
Absolutely. Absolutely. As many people as possible who can see your listing, the better. And especially if you're if you have a REAL sign in your front yard. Same the same situation. So is everything finalized or are we still in the process?

John Wilkinson (23:55)
Yeah, I think

as of Monday it closed. And it looks

Kenda Ruck (23:58)
I think so.

John Wilkinson (23:59)
like, yeah, it looks like, you know, it's its full first day was yesterday. there's gonna be there, there will be many changes coming in the future. you

Kenda Ruck (24:08)
Huh. Yeah.

John Wilkinson (24:09)
know, there's questions about the conferences we mentioned, Rise. I know that Remax has its own version of Rise.

Kenda Ruck (24:16)
Mm-hmm.

John Wilkinson (24:18)
And you know, so from from an agent perspective, those are those are going to you know.

continue to evolve. but I think too like from for my for our clients for me and I I'd like to like hear your take too. I think for our clients this is a great thing to happen. It provides us not just with access to these brokers around the world and when we have a listing there are many times when people are moving from out of state or out of the country and

Kenda Ruck (24:53)
Mm-hmm.

John Wilkinson (24:53)
being able to

present that to a a network of agents that are around a gl around the globe is huge. That's a huge benefit for our clients that are listing, right? And when when be we have buyers that are coming in, that network obviously also expands. So that's a big plus. On top of like

Kenda Ruck (25:10)
Yep. A vetted

like per quality agent. Like you tr you're just not like doing this on a map and putting you know, you it's this is a vetted agent that we're referring you to.

John Wilkinson (25:21)
One hundred

percent. Yep. We know their history, you know, we know who they are, who their what their business is like. And that's a huge benefit. I mean, I think that for me is is one of the biggest takeaways for our clients.

Kenda Ruck (25:32)
Yeah, I agree. And and the other thing that I really love and is a goal for us is their tagline, which is work hard and be kind. And

John Wilkinson (25:43)
Yes.

Kenda Ruck (25:43)
I think you and I, you know, we've had this podcast for a while now, and it's always we have in our hearts to to

Enjoy life and and make a great life for yourself and be where you need to be based on how you want to live your life. And we've had that overarching theme from the very beginning. And the way REAL culture kind of comes into that, and they say, yes, you we do have to work hard and we do work hard, but also the kind be kind part. And I I love that so much.

John Wilkinson (26:17)
I

do too.

And I I have not shared this with you. yesterday I was really sad. You know, we're recording this. what is today? The twenty

Kenda Ruck (26:26)
Twenty six.

John Wilkinson (26:27)
the twenty sixth of August and Dolly Parton died yesterday. And she

Kenda Ruck (26:30)
I know, I know.

John Wilkinson (26:31)
was such a an impactful person in in

Kenda Ruck (26:35)
kind. Yeah.

John Wilkinson (26:37)
in my life growing up. I remember nine to five and just singing my little gay heart out to n

Kenda Ruck (26:42)
Yeah, yeah.

John Wilkinson (26:43)
Nine to five and and Islands in the stream with Kenny Rogers. And and I think she

Kenda Ruck (26:46)
Jolene.

John Wilkinson (26:47)
Jolene favorite, yes, 100%. but I think that she was the epitome of the work hard, be kind person. And

Kenda Ruck (26:55)
Mm-hmm.

John Wilkinson (26:57)
when when I first saw the the logo or the sorry, the slogan for work hard be kind, it resonated with me, not because of Dolly Pardon, but yesterday when she passed, it just really hit me that that is what we need more of, is is people who want to work hard.

Treat their clients kindly, treat their vendors

kindly, treat any everybody kindly. I mean, that's kind of why

life is life is too short and too hard and too difficult and stressful

Kenda Ruck (27:21)
That's right.

John Wilkinson (27:22)
that today it's it's it's really, I'm really proud and happy to be at Real for all of the things we talked about today.

Kenda Ruck (27:33)
Yeah, I agree. And I do feel like it was the right decision for us. I do miss a lot of our FaceTime with our Remax of Cherry Creek Friends. They were amazing people and great leadership, but I do feel like it was the right decision for us. So if you are curious about whether it is the right decision for you, John and I are happy to jump on a call with you and just give you our personal experience and just talk you through some of your questions. So we're always here for you, whether you want to buy a house, sell a house.

moving to Denver, lived here forever, or are a seasoned agent and you're thinking about making a change, as always, please feel free to reach out to us. Our goal is to make you feel confident in whatever decision that you make.

John Wilkinson (28:17)
Yep. Thank you so much, Kenda That was beautifully said. And I'll just leave this to everybody. just to remember to work hard and be kind.

Kenda Ruck (28:25)
Work hard and be kind.