About Us

History of RE/MAX®

In 1973, Dave and Gail Liniger founded RE/MAX in Denver, Colorado, motivated by their dissatisfaction with the way the real estate business was conducted at that time.

Most Houston real estate offices, like virtually all others used the split-commissions system at that time, regardless of their operation's size, which required agents to give up half of their commissions to the sponsoring broker in exchange for services and office space. The top producers contributed the most to the operation's overhead, thus supporting the amateur, part-time and low-producing agents. Most Texas real estate agents left the business within two years, making residential real estate in Houston and all over Texas a high-turnover industry comprising in large part inexperienced and unprofessional staffs.

The Linigers were determined to change all that.

Dave and Gail felt that to attract and retain the best agents in the business, brokers must offer them maximum compensation, advanced support services and the freedom they need to succeed. Agents would share office overhead and pay management fees, and in return would receive a wide variety of traditional real estate franchise services and high commissions.

The strategy worked.

RE/MAX has grown every single year for more than 35 years. Very few companies with a worldwide presence can make such a claim.

Recognized by the homebuying and selling public for its red, white and blue hot air balloon logo, RE/MAX has been the No. 1 residential real estate network in Canada since 1987 and is a leading industry force in the United States and many other regions.

The most significant growth for RE/MAX in recent years has come outside the United States, with expansion into Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand and South America. RE/MAX takes proven techniques and adapts them to local markets, thereby developing a series of tools that real estate professionals find invaluable.

Some of the innovative services created by RE/MAX International to help its Texas RE/MAX agents become ever more professional and successful include relocation and asset management, commercial investment, an international referral network, advanced training courses, state-of-the-art technological tools, Internet and extranet Web sites, and national television advertising campaigns. It was the first - and remains the only - real estate network to invent and maintain a satellite television network (RE/MAX Satellite Network) dedicated to real estate professionals.

In an industry rife with mergers and acquisitions, RE/MAX is the only major real estate network still owned and directed by its original founders.

History of RE/MAX of Texas

Frank DeCicco, an intuitive businessman and entrepreneur who had been in business since 1936, founded RE/MAX of Texas in 1977. DeCicco, his wife Jean, and their five daughters moved to Houston from upstate New York in 1965, attracted by the bustling Houston real estate market. They established Sun Aero Real Estate, but after five years the company was not growing as fast as their ambitions. In 1974, DeCicco opened Century 21's first Texas office, but he still was not quite satisfied. "I knew that something bigger and better was lurking just over the horizon," stated DeCicco.

DeCicco found what he was looking for in 1977 when he purchased the franchise rights for Texas RE/MAX operations. He carried on with Dave Liniger's unconventional concept of allowing the Houston realty professionals to keep the maximum amount of their commissions, with the stipulation that they contribute to the shared overhead expenses plus a small management and promotions fee.

"We're the greatest untold story on the face of the earth, because this is a program that should not have worked," DeCicco says. Old-line brokers and others in the industry tried to discredit Texas RE/MAX agents, indoctrinating agents against Liniger's plan and even denying RE/MAX Texas real estate agents access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Colorado's state real estate commission audited the company's trust accounts weekly, and the state attorney general's office investigated RE/MAX after competitors complained the firm was violating fair trade practices. Things changed in 1977 when Liniger decided to franchise. RE/MAX was not the first real estate franchise business, but it was the first to combine the maximum commission concept with franchising-and the combination sparked a revolution. That year the company's growth of Sales Associates exploded by 274 percent, and has been escalating dramatically each succeeding year.

In Houston, real estate was big business, and DeCicco jumped on the RE/MAX bandwagon quickly, but he admits the first 10 years were tough-even though the late 1970s and early 1980s were boom years in the market. Luckily, he was also selling real estate to survive. "It seems to me, if you're going to be a Houston RE/MAX agent, where your only compensation is commission, you should be retaining the maximum amount," he says. "The key was finding enough Houston real estate professionals who had the courage to cast themselves as individual contractors and agents instead of splitting their commissions."

Richard J. Filip, a licensed real estate broker since 1969 and the owner of a custom homebuilding company, began his association with the Texas RE/MAX organization in 1979 in a marketing capacity. Beyond his various real estate businesses, he additionally owned a company called Air Adventures that provided pilot instruction of hot air balloons. Frank DeCicco contacted Richard Filip about putting a balloon-marketing program in place for the region, which resulted in the sale of the first hot air balloon to RE/MAX of Texas. It was at this time that the now familiar red, white and blue hot air balloon was adopted as the official RE/MAX logo.

In 1990, Filip became an Executive Vice President for RE/MAX Regional. In January 1997, he was named Chief Operating Officer and Regional Director for Texas RE/MAX operations, and later that same year, became Regional Co-Owner. This occurred with the formation of a partnership between RE/MAX of Texas, Inc. and KEMCO, Inc., a company owned by Filip. Filip held the positions of Chairman of the Board and President, serving as Managing General Partner of the RE/MAX of Texas, Inc./KEMCO, Inc. partnership, doing business as RE/MAX of Texas, until June, 2002.

June 2002 marked the completion of the ownership transition process begun five years earlier, as Filip announced his acquisition of the assets of his joint partnership with DeCicco.

In the more than twenty years since Richard Filip joined the Texas RE/MAX system, he has been integral to the continued growth and success of the RE/MAX organization in Texas.

Today the RE/MAX concept seems to be more practical than radical. "The same thing that's happening in the retail business is occurring in our industry," says Filip. "Mom and Pop operations are going out of business, because they're no longer able to keep up with the technology." RE/MAX has grown so phenomenally, it now offers its Texas real estate agents access to a worldwide satellite network system (RE/MAX Satellite Network®), which offers educational courses, keeps Associates abreast of the latest industry trends, and makes readily available the referrals of more than 105,000 other sales professionals across the globe.

RE/MAX enjoys Premier Market Presence in virtually every area served by "The Real Estate Leaders."® RE/MAX has captured the lion's share of the real estate market in most major markets area they service throughout Texas: Corpus Christi, the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, Houston, San Antonio, and many additional medium and smaller cities and towns. In Houston, real estate agents in RE/MAX offices have managed to outsell their next three competitors combined for the past ten years, according to the MLS.

"RE/MAX of Texas ended 2007 with our Sales Associates and Franchises demonstrating exceptional financial strength and growth," said Filip. "These factors contributed to a total sales volume that surpassed $15 billion worth of Texas real estate. We have experienced continual expansion in every aspect of the real estate market. The record-setting sales volume, as well as the fact that RE/MAX was involved in more transaction sides across Texas in 2007 than any other franchiser, simply makes us the strongest Texas real estate presence. And I expect the coming year to be even better because we are maximizing the use of technology with an expanded on-line service, and we are continuing to emphasize our policy of providing our Associates with the best educational curriculum, which keeps them apprised of the latest industry trends and enables them to pursue professional designations in the comfort and convenience of their own home."

The RE/MAX network in Texas is comprised of approximately 5,000 members affiliated with 300 offices across the state. Under the RE/MAX franchise name, these independently owned and operated offices provide residential and commercial real estate services. Where available, offices also provide loan counseling. Since its inception in 1977, the RE/MAX organization in Texas has experienced thirty consecutive years of growth, attracting Sales Associates who lead the industry in professional designations, experience and productivity.