It’s a new day at Real and REMAX.
Real Brokerage announced on Monday its acquisition of the 51-year-old franchisor for $880 million. REMAX and Real will merge under a holding company, Real REMAX Group, once the deal closes in mid-2026.
Real founder and CEO Tamir Poleg, REMAX co-founder and Chairman of the Board Dave Liniger, and REMAX Holdings CEO Erik Carlson were all bullish about the deal, saying it will allow the combined company to create “a more innovative, more productive and more connected real estate ecosystem.”
TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX SURVEY
Technology took center stage in Poleg’s and Carlson’s statements, with both leaders excited about leveraging Real’s tech ecosystem. That ecosystem includes the transaction management platform reZEN; agent- and consumer-facing artificial intelligence products Leo CoPilot and HeyLeo; and Real Wallet, which gives agents instant access to their commissions.
Real also has a cadre of third-party tech partners, including Agent Image, Lofty and MAXA Designs.
Tamir Poleg | The Real Brokerage
“This acquisition is an important step on our journey to build a technology platform that empowers real estate professionals and improves the consumer experience,” Poleg said in a announcement on Monday. “Bringing together Real’s technology and operating model with REMAX’s global reach and franchise model is a transformational moment for the industry.”
REMAX has struggled with technology in recent years, shuttering its in-house end-to-end tech platform, Booj, in 2022. Carlson joined REMAX the following year and immediately focused on reviving the company’s tech strategy, spearheading the launch of MAXTECH in August 2024.
At the company’s latest R4 annual conference, leaders teased the launch of a series of AI-powered solutions, including the REMAX Marketing Studio and MAX AI virtual assistant.
However, there’s palpable excitement in the REMAX camp about what reZEN offers, with Carlson calling it “differentiated, best-in-class technology.”
Erik Carlson | REMAX Holdings
“… We believe [Real’s technology] will drive greater choice, higher productivity and expanded support to our network,” Carlson said in a prepared statement. “By joining forces, we will be positioned to deliver a more enhanced experience for all stakeholders – from agents to franchisees to consumers to shareholders – all while strengthening the culture and flexibility that make our brands special.”
REMAX franchisees will have the option to stay on REMAX’s tech platform or switch to reZEN, a Real spokesperson told Inman. That approach is a departure from the strategy at Real, which has a 100 percent adoption rate.
“You cannot be an agent at Real without using our technology, so that naturally pushes agents to interact with it,” Poleg told Inman in December 2025. “You cannot generate a transaction, you cannot close the transaction or get paid outside of the Real platform.”
For the franchisees who decide to switch to Real’s technology, here’s a brief overview of what they can expect:
The Core: ReZEN
ReZEN is the center of Real’s technology stack, with the platform helping Real agents:
- update listing details
- manage the progress of their transactions, from contract to close
- generate and send commission disbursement authorizations (CDA) and trade record sheets
- upload transaction documents
- view listing and transaction updates in a dedicated activity feed
- track their financials, including commissions
- see progress toward their annual commission cap
- deposit commission checks on the ReZEN mobile app
- communicate with their brokers and staff members
- join company events, including more than 150 training and learning sessions, from the reZEN app
Real CEO Tamir Poleg said ReZEN has been key to the company’s success, allowing them to scale without dramatically increasing overhead costs. “Brokerage is a low-margin business,” he said in a previous Inman article. “If you continue to rely on humans for processing of transactions, and if you rely on office locations, and if you need to scale while adding more and more headcount, you would probably fail. So for us, it wasn’t a choice. It was a necessity.”
ReZEN enables Real to have one full-time brokerage employee per 94 agents— an efficiency that beats its nearest public competitor, which has one full-time brokerage employee per 45 agents. “ReZEN can transform the operations of REMAX franchisees in every office, instill efficiency and help with cost-cutting,” Poleg told Inman on Monday, while noting that REMAX franchisees will have their choice between REMAX and Real technology.
Beyond transaction management, ReZEN also serves as the foundation for Real’s other tech offerings, including a suite of agent productivity tools, Leo AI, Real Retirement and Real Wallet.
Leo AI
Real rolled out Leo CoPilot in May 2023 as an AI-powered concierge for agents and brokers. Leveraging generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) technology, Leo uses reZEN data to become the ultimate assistant, answering questions about listings, transactions, commissions, equity programs and finances at any time of the day.
“We are excited to see how Leo will enhance the work of our agents,” Chief Technology Officer Pritesh Damani said in an Inman article about Leo’s beta launch. “With the power of reZEN’s data and the bot’s advanced capabilities, we are confident that our agents will be better equipped to serve their clients and achieve their goals.”
Leo CoPilot has undergone several upgrades since its launch, enabling it to use agents’ reZEN data to anticipate questions and proactively suggest “tools, strategies, and solutions,” automatically scan documents and flag mistakes before sending them to a broker, generate social media content based on listing information, and provide a final payout summary once a transaction closes.
Leo now also includes a voice-activated assistant called Leo Companion. Leo Companion has three modes that help it tailor its responses:
- Support: This mode focuses on answering key questions about Real and its operations, ranging from how to best use reZEN to calculating commissions, revenue share, stock and equity, and other financial questions.
- Broker: This mode focuses on answering questions that require knowledge of licensing or state-specific compliance. The companion pulls reZEN data to automatically know what state(s) an agent operates in.
- Pirate: The company describes this mode as the most casual and conversational, allowing agents to ask a range of questions.
Leo Companion can also connect agents with a human support team member if they aren’t getting the answers they need.
“We’ve always envisioned a world where Leo will take the initiative, proactively creating personalized marketing assets and daily playbooks to supercharge our agents’ productivity,” Damani said in 2024. “That vision is now a reality. Real agents now have a personal assistant that starts each day with a customized game plan — and takes charge of executing it.”
Leo also includes a consumer-facing solution called HeyLeo. The first iteration of HeyLeo debuted in October 2024 as Leo for Clients, an AI-powered tool that enabled buyers and sellers to ask Leo for “recommendations for available properties based on their search criteria, access open house information, schedule tours upon request and initiate a mortgage application.”
Real acquired Flyhomes in June 2025 and integrated its consumer portal into Leo, setting the stage for HeyLeo.
Real launched the beta version of HeyLeo last month, which includes HeyLeo.com, a home search platform where homebuyers can search for listings using natural language. HeyLeo’s desktop experience isn’t available in all markets yet; however, buyers can still text Leo’s phone number to find listings.
The agent-facing side of HeyLeo, called Leo AiRM, allows agents to create a personalized URL (e.g., heyleo.com/agentname) and phone number that they share with clients. As clients search via the personalized URL, Leo tracks their search preferences and begins suggesting properties as they come to market. Agents get real-time updates on their dashboard, allowing them to track client interactions with Leo and determine the best time to follow up with additional insights.
Leo AiRM is also in beta mode; however, Chief Technology Officer Pritesh Damani and Real Chief Growth Officer Jason Cassity demoed the product on Instagram Live in March, showing how effective the tool is in helping agents maintain a robust database.
“A busy agent has text messages coming all the time,” Damani said during the livestream. “At the bottom of your heart you know that a small number of those messages are going to convert — but every one of them could possibly be a buyer.”
The rest of the Real universe
Real’s technology suite also includes:
- Real Wallet: Real Wallet is a bank account that enables agents to access their commission earnings sooner. Real Wallet also includes financial planning features, allowing agents to view their payouts, retirement funding, fees and other financials in a dashboard connected to reZEN.
- Real Partners: Real has a small number of third-party vendors that provide tech, marketing, transaction, education and training, and client services support. AgentImage, Luxury Presence, HomeStack, Sierra Interactive, Lofty, MAXA Design, First American Home Warranty, The CE Shop and Contact Center Compliance are just a few of the companies on the list.
- Ancillary Services: Real has mortgage and title ancillary services, aptly named One Real Mortgage and One Real Title. Agents can get their clients pre-approved for a mortgage within reZEN.
What’s next?
Although Real and REMAX will continue to operate as two separate brands, leaders at both firms have expressed a desire for a more synergistic relationship, especially on the tech front.
“Nothing changes for REMAX agents. Nothing changes for REMAX franchisees. Nothing changes on the Real side,” Poleg told Inman on Monday. “What we do want to do is take our technology and offer it to whoever wants to choose to opt in and use it from the REMAX side. As soon as we close, we will try to roll it out there. There will be opportunities with Real Wallet, with our AI capabilities.”
Added Carlson, “REMAX has been in the business for 50 years and has done a lot of innovation and disruption. It’s an iconic brand with tremendous consumer awareness. What I really like about Real is they have great culture and great people … I truly believe our best days are ahead of us for the Real REMAX Group.”
Analysts are bullish about Real’s technology as well, with William Blair pinpointing reZEN as a potential game-changer for REMAX franchisees.
“We see significant opportunity to roll out Real’s technology platform (reZEN) across the REMAX franchise network, and this could drive cost savings for franchisees who choose to adopt it,” they said in an equity research report. “Many REMAX franchisees still rely heavily on manual workflows to process home transactions, and by leveraging reZEN for back-office processes, they could see efficiency gains along with reduced spending on third-party solutions.”
