With Remax deal closed, Real CEO Poleg lays out what comes next

The Real Brokerage has officially completed its US$880-million acquisition of Re/Max Holdings, and while CEO Tamir Poleg says both brands and their business models will remain intact, he is signalling changes ahead for the newly combined organization.

Tamir Poleg, founder of The Real Brokerage and CEO of the newly-combined Real Remax Group.

Real and Remax said in Aug. 24 filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that all customary conditions required to complete the transaction had been met.

The deal, first announced in April, creates a group representing roughly 180,000 real estate agents worldwide. In a letter to employees, Poleg laid out how he sees the two companies working together, including discouraging movement between the brands and trying to bring new momentum to Remax.

“If you are a Remax agent or broker/owner, nothing about your business changed when you woke up this morning,” Poleg wrote. “If you are a Real agent, the same is true.”

‘Remax stays Remax’

Poleg said the Remax brand, its balloon logo and independent broker/owner model will remain, along with its franchise structure.

“Remax stays Remax,” he wrote, calling the brand’s more than 50 years of equity an asset the company intends to strengthen rather than disrupt.

Real will also maintain its existing brand and business model, including its commission structure, revenue share and equity programs.

The companies come from different models. Remax built its global footprint largely through franchises and independent broker/owners, while Real has grown rapidly as a cloud-based brokerage. Poleg’s letter suggests the plan is to preserve those differences rather than push the organizations toward a single model.

Real technology coming to Remax

One area where agents and broker/owners are likely to see more overlap is technology.

Poleg said Real plans to make reZEN, Leo, its AI agents and Real Wallet available across the combined group, though Remax agents and broker/owners won’t be required to use them.

“Not mandated. Available,” Poleg wrote. “If it’s good, agents and brokers will use it. If it isn’t, then we haven’t earned it yet.”

Poleg also stressed that Real’s technology grew out of running its own brokerage.

“We are not a technology company that decided to buy a brokerage. We built a brokerage first,” he wrote.

AI and added services part of strategy

Poleg said Real plans to use AI for lead follow-up, transaction co-ordination, marketing, compliance and client communication.

“We believe the next decade of this industry belongs to whoever gives real estate agents the most leverage per hour,” he wrote.

The company also sees opportunities to bring together mortgage, title and other closing services across the organization.

Poleg characterized the strategy as “growth, not consolidation,” saying the goal is to continue Real’s momentum while returning Remax to agent-count and revenue growth.

Real won’t reward switching between brands

That growth, Poleg said, isn’t supposed to come from moving agents between the company’s two brands.

“We do not win when an agent moves from Remax to Real, or from Real to Remax,” he wrote. “That is not growth and so we will disincentivize and discourage it.”

Instead, growth targets will focus on agents from outside the combined group. Agents can still move between the models if they choose, Poleg said, but the company won’t engineer or reward those moves.

Real also plans to use the combined network to generate more referrals between agents and offer shared training and events.

Real looks to ‘reinvigorate’ Remax

Poleg was candid about the challenge facing the legacy Remax brand.

While describing Remax as the most recognized name in real estate, he acknowledged that recognition hasn’t necessarily translated into the momentum it once did.

“Consumers know the balloon, but fewer consumers and fewer agents feel the energy behind it the way they once did,” Poleg wrote.

Closing that gap, he said, is one of the main reasons the companies came together.

Real plans to invest in the Remax brand, consumer experience and its digital presence.

“Brand energy doesn’t come from advertising,” Poleg wrote. “It comes from agents winning so loudly that people on the outside begin asking what changed.”

Some Remax employees announce departures

The closing also comes as some Remax employees in Canada and the U.S. have publicly announced on social media the end of their time with the company, including employees in administrative and events roles. Their posts did not indicate whether the departures were connected to the acquisition.

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