As commission structures evolve and consolidation reshapes the real estate industry, REMAX President Chris Lim said the company is tuning out industry noise and concentrating on its core strengths.
He sat down with HousingWire during this week’s REMAX R4 conference in Las Vegas — outlining key partnerships, initiatives and perspective on the current and future housing market.
“We’re trying to focus on what we can control,” he said. “We focus on the fact that we’re 147,000 agents strong. We’re in 120-plus countries. We have the best brand in the world. No one sells more real estate than REMAX. Consumers know us really well. When you’re in these kind of market dichotomies, where there’s a lot of change, we try to focus on what we can choose, which is that customers know us and trust us.”
Last year, REMAX reported net income of $8.2 million — up from $7.1 million a year earlier — despite a 5.2% annual drop in revenue to $291.6 million. Fourth-quarter revenue fell 1.8% year-over-year to $71.1 million.
Still, REMAX’s global footprint expanded. At the end of Q4 2025, total agent count stood at 148,660, up 1.4% year-over-year. International growth — up 7.9% outside the U.S. and Canada — offset a 6.1% decline in U.S. agents and a 1.4% dip in Canada.
Lim joined REMAX in January 2025 after serving as president of Christie’s International Real Estate and founded Climb Real Estate.
“I’ve been a real estate agent for 23 years, selling in the San Francisco Bay area, so I have an agent lens,” he said. “The second perspective I have is I was a broker-owner. I created a brokerage, founded a company called Climb Real Estate in San Francisco that I sold to Anywhere in 2016. The third perspective is that I’m really focused on networks — obsessed with growing networks.
“When I look at some of the things that we’re facing, I try to look at it from that three-prong perspective as an agent, as someone who’s been a broker owner, and as someone who has led networks. I think that’s very important.”
Scale, partnerships and tech investment
Lim said scale remains one of REMAX’s biggest recruiting and retention advantages — especially as agents scrutinize expenses.
“I think when you look at all of the offerings, whether it’s marketing or innovation or technology, really there’s an economy of scale that we have at REMAX that no other franchiser or brand has,” he said. “You can look at our partnership with Zillow or look at the opportunity that we have with Realtor.com or our recent partnership with Canva. We can provide that economy of scale and pass on the savings to our agents.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is central to that strategy, Lim added.
“I think we’re at a really important inflection in real estate,” he said. “I think that AI is speeding up productivity. Agent productivity is probably the lens in which we look at it and how we go back to our mission of helping agents save more time. Whether it’s Sky Studio or marketing or anything that we’re doing with some of the partnerships that we’ve announced to building out the world’s first real estate loyalty program, we’re really focused on providing productivity and enhancing the agent experience.”
Consolidation and competitive positioning
Industry consolidation — including high-profile acquisitions such as Compass’ addition of Anywhere — continues to reshape the brokerage landscape. Lim declined to speculate directly on competitors’ long-term trajectories, instead emphasizing REMAX’s internal strategy.
“We’re always focused on where we’re looking at opportunities,” he said. “I really point to two recent conversions, REMAX Hawaii, which was under my leadership as chief growth officer. We brought on a Better Homes and Gardens affiliate in Hawaii, and we’ve focused on finding incredible broker-owners who are thinking about growth, whether that’s organic growth or through acquisition.”
He cited additional large-scale conversions in Canada as evidence that the franchise model remains attractive to broker-owners seeking brand recognition and global referral networks.
When asked how consolidation may influence agent recruitment over the next five to 10 years, Lim reiterated his forward-looking stance.
“I’m excited about the vision that (REMAX CEO) Erik Carlson set up,” he said. “He’s an outsider who’s come into the industry with a fresh set of eyes. He’s assembled a world-class leadership team with Don Kottick running REMAX Canada, with Travis Saxton as EVP of strategy and Daniel Dennis, who I’m so proud to have brought on. He’s an owner-operator. He ran Illustrated Properties and was the youngest CEO in Berkshire Hathaway, and now he’s overseeing global service for us.
“I look at Tom Flanagan, who gives us a whole new vision about digital strategy, in partnership with this incredible existing legacy team that’s here. I’m excited about what we’re working on.”
Inventory, affordability and first-time buyers
Beyond brokerage dynamics, Lim said housing inventory and affordability — particularly for first-time buyers — remain defining challenges.
“I’m a huge proponent of homeownership,” he said. “My dad was a developer. My mom was a real estate agent. I’ve been able to develop my own wealth through building a portfolio of properties. I do think that it’s the cornerstone not just of the American dream, but also the cornerstone of building wealth.”
He pointed to demographic shifts and evolving ownership models as potential pressure valves.
“We’re going to see this huge transfer of wealth from baby boomers to millennials,” Lim said. “We’re seeing more household formations happening with millennials, more than ever before. I think people are being creative. There’s creative models and creative housing types. We’re seeing fractional ownership. We’re seeing tiny homes. We’re seeing people move and explore differently with remote work.”
Lim argued that the advent of post-COVID remote work has expanded wealth-building through real estate beyond high-cost coastal markets.
From luxury to global franchise leader
Lim’s move from luxury brokerage leadership to the helm of REMAX marked a notable shift last year.
“You’re going to see (REMAX’s) movement into lifestyles,” he sad. “We’re starting with golf, but we’ll be doing vineyards, and we’ll be doing ski towns and we’ll be doing waterfront properties and equestrian properties and land and ranch.
“People asked me about going to REMAX after being in luxury. I always say REMAX was the best opportunity in real estate, and I’m really grateful to be here. I can’t I can’t wait to see what we do next.”
With profitability up despite revenue pressure and agent counts stabilizing globally, Lim is betting that focus — combined with scale, AI-driven productivity and strategic partnerships — will define REMAX’s next chapter.
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