Quick answer Yes. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC franchises brokerage offices, and 1,297 franchised Coldwell Banker offices were open on December 31, 2025. Compass, Inc. became the ultimate parent on January 9, 2026. The 2026 commercial FDD prices a start-up office at $118,550 to $741,000 with a $20,000 initial fee and no Item 19.
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Key Takeaways
- ✓Yes. Item 20 of the 2026 FDD counts 1,297 franchised Coldwell Banker offices and 484 company-owned offices at December 31, 2025, plus 134 franchised Coldwell Banker Commercial offices.
- ✓Item 1 states that Anywhere Real Estate Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Compass, Inc. on January 9, 2026. The disclosure document was issued March 30, 2026, so it was drafted after the close.
- ✓Coldwell Banker runs two separate franchise programs under one franchisor: residential since January 1982 and commercial since December 31, 1998, each with its own disclosure document.
- ✓2026 Coldwell Banker Commercial Item 7: $37,050 to $553,700 to convert an existing brokerage, $118,550 to $741,000 for a start-up office. The $20,000 initial fee is currently waived under a sales incentive program.
- ✓The royalty steps down. Item 6 charges 5.5% of gross revenue up to $1,000,000 per calendar year and 3% above that, plus a 2% marketing fund fee floored at $621 and capped at $1,728 per office per month.
- ✓There is no Item 19. Franchised Coldwell Banker offices fell from 1,388 at the start of 2023 to 1,297 at the end of 2025, and company-owned offices fell from 604 to 484 over the same period.
Yes, and the January 9, 2026 close is already in the filing
On January 9, 2026, a Compass merger subsidiary merged into Anywhere Real Estate Inc., leaving Anywhere a wholly owned subsidiary of Compass, Inc. Two dates follow from that, and they need to stay separate. The merger closed January 9. The Coldwell Banker disclosure document a prospective franchisee receives today was issued March 30, 2026, so it was drafted after the close and documents the change rather than predating it.
Item 1 walks the chain. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, a California limited liability company, sits under Anywhere Real Estate Services Group LLC, then Anywhere Real Estate Group LLC, then Anywhere Intermediate Holdings LLC, then Anywhere Real Estate Inc. Anywhere, in the filing’s words, is “a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Compass, Inc., d/b/a Compass International Holdings.”
So the answer is yes on both readings. Coldwell Banker sells franchises, and the company that ultimately owns the franchisor is a different one than it was on January 8.
One consequence is worth flagging. Anywhere listed on the New York Stock Exchange as HOUS in October 2012, and Item 1 states that following the merger its common stock ceased to be listed and it is no longer subject to public company reporting requirements. Anywhere and Anywhere Real Estate Group LLC still guarantee the franchisor’s obligations and still issued joint audited 2025 statements, attached at Exhibit F. Your guarantor is a private subsidiary now, not a filer you can track quarterly.
Two Coldwell Banker franchises, one franchisor
Most people asking this mean the residential brokerage with the blue sign. The franchisor runs two programs.
Item 1 is explicit: the company has offered commercial real estate brokerage franchises since December 31, 1998 through its Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates division, and it offers residential brokerage franchises “through a separate disclosure document and franchise agreement,” as it has since January 1982.
Every fee and investment figure below comes from the commercial document, because that is the filing in our library. If you are pricing a residential office, ask for that FDD and compare line by line rather than assuming the numbers carry across.
$118,550 to $741,000 for a start-up office
Item 7 publishes two scenarios rather than one, which is how the category tends to disclose.
| Item 7 line | Conversion office | Start-up office |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $0 to $20,000 | $0 to $20,000 |
| Leasehold improvements | $0 to $400,000 | $0 to $400,000 |
| Property signs | $8,500 to $20,500 | $8,500 to $20,500 |
| Facility and space planning | not applicable | $9,000 to $17,500 |
| Furnishings and communications equipment | not applicable | $27,000 to $87,500 |
| Additional funds, 3 months | $15,000 to $40,000 | $50,000 to $100,000 |
| Total | $37,050 to $553,700 | $118,550 to $741,000 |
The conversion table assumes you already operate a commercial brokerage and are putting a new sign on it. The start-up table is narrower than it looks: Item 7 grants a start-up franchise “on a limited basis” to a newly formed brokerage staffed substantially by associates who came from a licensed commercial brokerage.
Occupancy sits outside both totals. Item 7 lists real estate as “not included in total” and estimates $0 to $50,000 per year, so the headline range understates year-one cash by whatever your lease costs. The notes put typical build-out at $35 to $75 per square foot where real construction is needed.
The initial fee has a live discount attached. Item 5 sets it at $20,000 for the main office and $5,000 per additional branch, then states that as of the issuance date the main office fee is waived under a sales incentive program. What franchisees actually paid in 2025: $0 to $20,000 for a main office and $0 to $5,000 for a branch. Read it as a negotiated fee, not a price.
Pull the full Coldwell Banker data sheet. VetMyFranchise reads Items 5, 7, and 19 out of the filed document rather than the recruiting deck.
The royalty steps down at $1 million
Item 6 charges 5.5% of aggregate gross revenue across all your offices up to $1,000,000 per calendar year, then 3% on everything above $1,000,000. A brokerage clearing $2,000,000 of gross revenue pays $55,000 on the first million and $30,000 on the second, a blended 4.25%. Commercial property management revenue carries a separate 1.5% fee.
The Commercial Marketing Fund fee is 2% of gross revenue monthly, with a floor of $621 and a ceiling of $1,728 per office per month as of January 1, 2026. The ceiling matters more than the percentage: a high-volume office pays at most $20,736 a year into the fund, while a quiet one pays the $621 floor regardless of production.
Then there is a floor with teeth. Item 12 sets minimum operating standards from six months after the effective date: if quarterly gross revenue falls below the standard, the franchisor may put you on probation and terminate if you do not clear the deficiency. The stated quarterly standard is $125,000, it can rise by up to 20% a year, and probation carries a $7,500 quarterly minimum fee. The cover page flags “Mandatory Minimum Payments” as a state-required special risk, alongside New Jersey-only dispute resolution and a spousal guaranty.
Early exit is priced. Liquidated damages equal the monthly average of royalty and marketing fund payments over the trailing five years, multiplied by the lesser of 36 or the months left in your term. The term runs 10 years from the opening date, and Item 17 states there are no renewal rights.
There is no Item 19, and the category does the same thing
Item 19 of the 2026 filing contains no figures. The sentence that matters: “We do not make any representations about a franchisee’s future financial performance or the past financial performance of company-owned or franchised outlets.”
That is legal, because the FTC Franchise Rule makes an Item 19 optional. It is also the category standard. Keller Williams declines in nearly identical language, as do RE/MAX and Century 21. The largest brokerage franchisors in the country have collectively decided not to publish what a broker-owner earns, which pushes validation onto the franchisee lists in Exhibits G-1 and G-2. Our guide to what a missing Item 19 means covers how to work that problem.
Item 20 counts both networks, and both are shrinking
The commercial filing discloses residential outlet counts too, which makes it the more useful of the two documents.
| Coldwell Banker outlets | Start of 2023 | End of 2023 | End of 2024 | End of 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franchised offices | 1,388 | 1,351 | 1,309 | 1,297 |
| Company-owned offices | 604 | 549 | 505 | 484 |
Company-owned offices contracted faster than franchised ones, falling 20% over three years. During 2025 the company opened 7 of its own offices and closed 28. On the franchise side, Table 5.B lists 7 signed agreements not yet open and 13 projected new franchised openings for the next fiscal year, against zero projected company openings.
The commercial network is small and roughly flat: 129 franchised offices at the start of 2023 and 134 at December 31, 2025, plus one company-owned commercial office. Four opened during 2025 while three were terminated and two ceased operations for other reasons.
What the new parent changes for a franchisee
Item 12 is where the Compass close stops being a headline and starts being a contract term. You get no exclusive territory. The franchisor and its related parties may own, operate, or franchise brokerages “anywhere within or outside the market area where your Office(s) are located, including locations in immediate proximity.”
The list of sibling brands you can now compete with is long. Item 1 counts, at December 31, 2025, 1,685 Century 21 offices, 672 Sotheby’s International Realty offices, 434 ERA offices, and 108 Corcoran offices, all franchised by affiliates under common ownership. Item 12 adds the parent’s own brokerage: Compass operates in over 95 US markets with over 400 offices and over 33,000 agents, and its affiliated agents may solicit clients in your area. The filing states that the franchisor does not resolve territory or client conflicts between its franchisees and those of the affiliated brands.
| 2026 FDD | Coldwell Banker Commercial | Century 21 | Keller Williams | RE/MAX |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $20,000, currently waived | $25,000, currently waived | $35,000 | $8,750 to $35,000 by market density |
| Item 7 total | $37,050 to $741,000 across two scenarios | $35,770 to $473,400 across two scenarios | $183,647 to $336,495 | $37,100 to $336,500 |
| Royalty | 5.5% to $1M, then 3% | 6% of gross revenue | 6% of GCI, capped $3,000 per agent | 1% of revenue |
| Item 19 | none | none | none | none |
Coldwell Banker and Century 21 sit close enough on price that the choice comes down to brand fit and the fee waivers each will actually sign. Both are now owned by a company whose primary business is a non-franchised brokerage, which is a governance question no Item in the document answers. Our brokerage franchise comparison lays out the rest of the field, and Compass itself is not a franchise you can buy.
Get the full Coldwell Banker FDD analysis before you take a franchise development call.
FAQ
How much does a Coldwell Banker franchise cost?
The 2026 Coldwell Banker Commercial FDD estimates $37,050 to $553,700 for a conversion office and $118,550 to $741,000 for a start-up office. The initial franchise fee is $20,000 for the main office and $5,000 for each additional branch, though Item 5 states the main office fee is waived under a current sales incentive program. Occupancy cost is excluded from both totals, with Item 7 estimating $0 to $50,000 per year. The residential Coldwell Banker franchise is sold under a separate disclosure document with its own numbers.
Who owns Coldwell Banker now?
Compass, Inc. Item 1 of the FDD issued March 30, 2026 states that on January 9, 2026, a Compass merger subsidiary merged into Anywhere Real Estate Inc., leaving Anywhere as a wholly owned subsidiary of Compass, Inc., which does business as Compass International Holdings. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC sits several layers below Anywhere. Anywhere's common stock, listed on the NYSE as HOUS since October 2012, ceased to be listed after the merger, but Anywhere and Anywhere Real Estate Group LLC still guarantee the franchisor's obligations.
Does Coldwell Banker disclose franchisee earnings?
No. Item 19 of the 2026 FDD contains no figures. The operative sentence reads: "We do not make any representations about a franchisee's future financial performance or the past financial performance of company-owned or franchised outlets." That is legal under the FTC Franchise Rule, which makes an Item 19 optional, and it is the category norm. Keller Williams, RE/MAX, and Century 21 all decline in their 2026 filings too.
What is the Coldwell Banker royalty rate?
Item 6 sets a royalty of 5.5% of aggregate gross revenue across all your offices up to $1,000,000 per calendar year, dropping to 3% on revenue above $1,000,000. A separate Commercial Marketing Fund fee runs 2% of gross revenue monthly, with a minimum of $621 and a maximum of $1,728 per office per month as of January 1, 2026. Commercial property management revenue carries its own 1.5% fee. Item 12 also sets a minimum quarterly gross revenue standard and a $7,500 quarterly minimum fee during probation.
Coldwell Banker vs Keller Williams, which franchise costs less to open?
Coldwell Banker Commercial has the lower entry point and the lower initial fee. Its conversion scenario starts at $37,050 against Keller Williams' $183,647 floor for a market center, and its initial fee is $20,000 versus $35,000. The trade runs the other way on royalty structure: Coldwell Banker charges 5.5% until $1,000,000 of annual gross revenue and 3% after, while Keller Williams charges 6% of gross commission income but caps it at $3,000 per agent per year. Neither publishes an Item 19, so neither document tells you what an office earns.