Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender
Realty Executives
Real Estate · independent · est. —
Realty Executives is a residential real estate brokerage franchise. A franchisee operates a brokerage office that recruits and supports licensed agents who represent home buyers and sellers, with the office earning fees on agent transactions.
Realty Executives net unit count declined -22.3% from 2023–2025 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Showing strain
Distress
The disclosed record shows weakness — shrinking units, elevated exits, or churn — worth reading closely before going further.
Exit rate · latest year
21.3%
vs 9.9% across 16 real estate systems
Cost to open
$55K–$444K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
11.8%
17 loans resolved — directional only
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 55 of 258 franchised outlets left the system — a 21.3% annualized exit rate, vs 9.9% across 16 real estate systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 299 | 287 | 258 |
| Opened | 8 | 8 | 20 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Terminations | 20 | 37 | 55 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 287 | 258 | 223 |
| Net change | -12 | -29 | -35 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 26 SBA-backed loans to Realty Executives franchisees since 1996. Only 17 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 2 of them charged off.
—
17 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$195,250
what recent franchisees borrowed
23 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
2 vs 2
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO REALTY EXECUTIVES BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $37K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $55K–$444K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.
To open (Item 7)
$55K–$444K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$37K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
—
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — this brand discloses no Item 19 earnings; validate with current & former owners.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$0
0% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$0
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for Realty Executives with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 2 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $888 in back wages for 4 workers. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
2
Back wages owed
$888
Employees affected
4
Since 2020
0
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Realty Executives franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Realty Executives itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2013.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand sits mid-pack: riskier than 58% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
58 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
13.9%
Observed SBA charge-off
11.8%
Top drivers: Item 20 exit rate (raises) · Net unit growth (raises) · Item 3 litigation (log) (lowers) · System size (log units) (lowers). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Realty Executives. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Realty Executives's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Realty Executives franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Realty Executives franchises closed last year?
In Realty Executives's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 55 of 258 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 21.3% — compared with 9.9% across 16 real estate systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a Realty Executives franchise cost?
Per Realty Executives's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $37K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $55K–$444K (Item 7).
Does Realty Executives disclose earnings (Item 19)?
No — Realty Executives's 2026 FDD makes no financial performance representation in Item 19. That is legal and common, but it means the franchisor publishes no earnings claim; ask current franchisees for real numbers.